New York, new shoes and new blisters (of course)

I went to New York for a long weekend to see my son, his fiancé and my grand dogs. It was a very nice time.

He made a wonderful dinner on Friday, Saturday we ate at a nice Italian restaurant and then went to see Wicked the Musical. Sunday we had a great barbecue with family and friends and Monday went to the One World Observatory and a great Mexican lunch. The views from the Observatory were amazing! We walked back home from there, over the Brooklyn Bridge which was about 5 miles, it was a great walk except for my feet. Before I left for New York, I bought some cute little memory foam slip-on shoes to wear to New York because my running shoes were looking very sad. I know better than to wear new shoes without breaking them in, but these were so soft I thought I would be OK. Note to self: never again.

My final night we had dinner at a nice French restaurant and the Bison was delicious! It was so great to see them and very sad to leave, I am really going to miss them.



My computer will not let me upload the photos, so maybe next post.

Thanks for reading!

"Count your Blessings"

Raspberries, rain and registers

The house I bought has a huge raspberry garden in the back at least 150 feet long and probably 80 feet wide. I have not had time to tackle it with all the other work that I have to do. A person came by  a few weeks ago wanting to buy some raspberry bushes from me. I told him that I haven't had a chance to tackle the garden which is way overgrown and he offered to thin them out for me if he could have 50 plants, so it's a total win-win situation!  It was so hot and dry over the long weekend that I thought I  better start watering those raspberry bushes.  We got a good rain Tuesday night,  so I thought I would continue watering them to keep the ground moist. I hooked up the  hose and rain bird sprinkler and did the garden in two halves.  After two hours of watering we got a huge thunder shower and it rained for a long time, it was wonderful.  It rained again yesterday off and on and late last night so that garden is completely wet.

I have been busy at the house pulling up the carpet that was installed so I can do hardwood floors in the living room and hallway . There are also electrical heat registers and all the rooms that I no longer need so I've been pulling them out as well with all the wiring. It has been an easy job, but time-consuming.

I finally did get responses from the contractors and only one guy can do it to my timeframe and he's hoping to be done by September 1 so we'll see how that goes, fingers crossed.  Now I just need to get my cabinets finalized but that's dependent on getting my appliances and I just can't get one place to get me a reasonable quote for the package that I want.

It seems very stressful and overwhelming at this point but I know it's going to be great and it's all gonna work out just fine, so it will all be worth it in the end.

Thanks for reading!


Count your blessings!

Happy belated 4th of July!

I am back from my camping trip, what a great weekend with friends. It was hot but if you were riding around or out on the boat there was a good breeze and you kept cool. Needless to say I went on a few scooter rides to keep cool. We went on a long 4 wheel ride through the trails in the woods which was beautiful. It was shady and cool among the maples and we even saw some deer which was nice. 

Fishing was disappointing, I probably spent 12 plus hours fishing over the 4 days and caught nothing and only got one bite. One person caught 5 and two others caught 1 and they were using the same set up I had, oh well, maybe next time. At least it was fun and breezy on the boat!

Back home today, had to weed eat and mow at the new house because it was supposed to rain early afternoon. I also tried to finish sweeping the outside, but had to quit because it was so hot and humid and mowing in the sun for over an hour was a bit overwhelming.

When I checked my mail, I received one bid for my remodeling work, I called to follow up on others and got a lame excuse and said they will try to get it to me tomorrow. Again I don't understand it, I guess everyone is busy for the summer, just tell me you are too busy and I will not bother you for a bid, period. I will see if I get something tomorrow and then I need to move forward. I also need to get my cabinets on order, I thought about those all weekend and I think I am OK with the design and what I picked out (fingers crossed).

Finished today off with a great dinner out with friends and family. We are supposed to get thunderstorms tonight now instead of earlier today, so I am glad the mowing is done.

5 years ago today we put our dog Sasha down; she was 16 years and 1 month and had a great life. I still feel bad for putting her down, her health and spirit was still great, but her hips just couldn't function anymore and I knew she was in pain. I loved that dog and miss her. Hopefully soon I will get another dog, but I could never find one as good as her.

That about sums it up, I am exhausted and am sure I will sleep like a baby tonight.

Thanks for reading!

"Count your Blessings"

Contractors, cabinets and baby skunks

So I had contractors look at my house for the immediate remodeling things that I wanted to do and it has been over a week since I heard back. None of them even showed up for the consultation, I had to call them and only one responded, so I called others to come and look at the job. I don't understand, I know people are busy, just tell me you are too busy to bid it or do the work and I will find someone else. I don't appreciate chasing down people to give them work, sorry.

I looked at cabinets and appliances yesterday, wow, how overwhelming! Just deciding on whether you want a French door refrigerator or a side by side can be stressful, don't get me started on water ice in the door. The cabinet styles, color, and materials are even more overwhelming along with countertops! Those are the big ticket items so I better be dang sure on what I want because it is an investment for the rest of my life.

When I returned from town I went to the house to sweep off spider webs, etc. I am having the house sprayed mid July so the exterior needs to be cleaned off. When I was sweeping the bottom edge of the siding around the house over the window well, I saw some fur in there. When I looked down into the well, I saw that it was a baby skunk! It seemed to be overheated being in there and not too active which was good. I called my brother and he put a piece of wood in there so it could crawl out. I went back to house later last night and it was gone, whew, or should I say pew!

Nothing much else, packing up and heading out in the morning for a 4 day camping trip which will include fishing, scooter bike riding, friends, bonfires and grilling. Good times!

Thanks for reading!

"Count your Blessings!"

Blessings

Busy day again today at the house. So much to do cleaning up the yard, trimming bushes, hauling old limbs out of the hardwoods, etc. I am not even tackling the garden until next year, which by the way is about 200 feet long by about 60 feet wide. Half of the garden is raspberry bushes and the other half is garden, all of which is severely overgrown for the past for 4 years or so. That will be tackled in the spring, I will have the garden tilled this fall and let it sit over winter.

Some friends came by last night to see the house just before dusk. I went to open the patio door to go out and show them the garden area and there was a doe that stood in the yard for the longest time like she was looking for something. I was wondering if maybe she used to eat the grass in the backyard which is now mowed or maybe she had a fawn nearby. I have a few does that hang around and lay by the garden fence at the edge of the hardwoods, I love seeing them. 

The priest from my church came by today to bless my house. When I was in Church Sunday I was feeling particularly blessed, thankful and happy to have my house and I thought it would be a great idea. I am glad I had it done.

Time to hit the hay after the long day.

Thanks for reading!

"Count your Blessings!"

Stormy Sunny Sunday

It was raining when I woke up this morning in the RV at the racetrack. It had started storming in the wee hours of the morning and I was up a few times during the night, closing vents and windows so the rain wouldn't come in and then reopening them when the rain would stop to let in the cool air. The strong cool breeze felt great considering it was almost 90 earlier in the day watching the races. It had cooled off considerably around midnight after the races and rather than listen to the generator kick on and off all night for the A/C, the window option seemed a good choice.

Other than the heat, the races where good I guess. The guy I am seeing loves the races, they just don't really interest me, but he says it is something to do on a weekend. The shocker of the night was that a local driver beat the champion ....woo hoo to number 17B, great job.

Met up for breakfast with his family on the way back from the races and by that time the rain had cleared. It was completely sunny and in the 80s when I got back to my place.

Overall if was a good 3 day weekend, rode around on the scooter, did some shopping, went to eat and stopped at several garage sales just to see what they had. Estate sales are hard, because you see that person's whole life of "things" sitting there and you make that silent "note to self" to never collect that much stuff, ever.

Thanks for reading!

"Count your Blessings"



 

Work day Wednesday

A long day at the house, I started at 8:30 this morning and quit at 9:30 tonight. A lot of mowing and cleaning things up and burning leaves and grass for 4 hours.  The people that owned it didn't cut the ditches and there is a lot of old branches and limbs in the hardwoods along the perimeter of the property that I wanted to clean up. It will take a long time to get all of that out of the hardwoods and the immediate stuff I am just piling and will burn it a little at a time. I couldn't start the weed eater, but oh well, I can do that tomorrow, it was a great day overall. I am really going to sleep good tonight!

Yesterday I measured the house because everything needs to be updated including the appliances. That will keep me busy and I will need to hire contractors for the things that I can't do myself. It will be a great project for me and I am excited to get started on it. The sooner the updates get done, the sooner I can move in.

The day that I closed escrow, I invited family and friends over for a celebratory toast. As I sat in the kitchen on a patio table and folding chairs talking, I just felt so comfortable there, like I have been there for some time. I could actually see myself sitting there in the future talking, it was a Déjà vu moment. I have always been uncertain whether I was making the right decisions going forward in my life and tonight when I was sitting in the yard burning, I felt certain that is where I was meant to be. That is the most secure that I have felt in a long time,

Not much more to say, I am hitting the hay.

Thanks for reading!

"Count your blessings"

Summer Solstice & Strawberry Moon

It took me awhile to find the right key to the door. When I finally opened it, the stillness of the place hit me and I just stood there alone for a minute in the quiet. My new home, one that I never would have thought I would buy a year ago. There are many things I never thought I would be doing a year ago that I've done and this is just one more. One more step, one more day, one more week...

Today is Summer Solstice and also a full moon (a strawberry moon), which hasn't happened together since 1967 - how about that, maybe it is a sign since I closed escrow today that this is really where I should be. When I looked at the house in April and was standing in the front yard, a bald eagle flew right over me and I took that as a sign to put in an offer.

On Summer Solstice 26 years ago I was single (divorced) and not looking for a relationship. I met my husband John that day and we were married for almost 24 years. We had a wonderful life with his 3 boys and then one tragic morning over a year ago everything changed forever in an instant with him passing away.

Since then I have been picking up the pieces. Death touches everyone, no one is exempt. I am stronger, wiser, more positive and compassionate because of it. I have learned a hard lesson about negative angry people, I surround myself with positive people and count my blessings every day. When I think I have it bad, I know someone else has it much worse.

This is the start of the next chapter in my life, it was supposed to be our next chapter in retirement, but the story ending is now changed.  I am moving forward and re-writing the script as I go and I think he would be OK with it. Sorry for the sadness, I just wanted to give some background on why I am where I am in my life.  I look forward to posting about my house, life and adventures and I know in my heart of hearts that it is all going to be alright.

Thanks for reading!

"Count your blessings"