Not a Good Daughter

This morning, mom and I had a continuation of my frustration with her.  Last night and this morning, she moved a television from her closet to her chair so she could try and hook it up herself ~ since she had unprogrammed her television and could not watch it in her room.

It was not pretty.

Then she told me that she couldn't carry her laundry, so I needed to get it for her and do it.  She decided to put her laundry in one of those big crazy baskets ~ I said that a pillow case or a LAUNDRY basket would make it easier.

Thank goodness the cable guy showed up - he hooked up the big television and helped me to set it up.  And then, he programmed mom's tv to the new big button remote that Amy got for mom.  He is my hero.

So, this morning I also unpacked Amy's new bed and got it ready to put together. 

The dining room looks like crap again, but I will fix it.

This is the progress I have made in Amy's room/office - please note the new bed on the left.

 

:) Leslie

 



Good News Today

Amy just called with good news. 

She had the septic inspector out this morning (and it snowed in Davidsonville this morning).  The inspector took pictures inside the tank and said our tank was in great shape.  He said the home inspector did a terrible job inspecting the septic system and was totally wrong.

The other positives:  George is coming out today with new rails for the deck, since the railings were not to code, the chimney guys were coming to fix the chimney and the floor guys were coming to refinish the den floor today.  So, when Amy leaves on Friday to come to our new house in Durham, our house in Davidsonville will be ready for the new family and the house will be sold on April 21st.  What a relief!

More later.
Love, Leslie

Second Day in Mom's Room

First off, I actually cheered (in a small way) for Notre Dame last night ~ and they toyed with my affections and lost to Kentucky.  What a wasted effort!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I am going into my second day in Mom's room.  I have more pictures, but you probably can't even tell that I was in here yesterday.

5 more boxes ~ I did get the boxes that lined the window yesterday.

Closet ~ one more box in here ~ her shoes.

All clothes ~ and there are alot of them!

I tried to get rid of this basket in Davidsonville and Mom had a fit.  I guess I can see the value, especially since the bottom is duct taped on.


 

Ok, enough procrastination ~ I hope everyone enjoys their Sunday!

Love, Leslie


PS ~  OK, here is the almost finished product ~ all of the boxes have been opened and I have put away stuff.  Still need to get in and really decorate, but that can come later ~ after Lori goes thru the closet!



 











Have I Got a Job For You, Lori!!!

Lori left this morning to go to Myrtle Beach.  Yesterday, she wanted to uppack some boxes for Mom.  I made her stop because where would she put the stuff?

So, after I took care of my birds - the Love Bird took a bath and the yellow parakeet escaped, so it was exciting!  All are back in their nice clean homes.  And, I came into Mom's room.  OMG.

I started in her room and then I realized that I needed to start in the closet - So I would have somewhere to put her crap, I mean stuff.

This is the starting point.

This painted piece of tin had to make the trip?

One fourth of the closet - and it all looks the same!

A small percentage of the clothes - and purses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, here I am.  I hope to finish today and then when Lori gets home from Myrtle Beach, then she can help arrange Imelda Marco's clothes.

Love, Leslie

My Brackets

It is probably difficult to see, but my brackets are a bust, with the exception of Duke.  I have Duke winning the entire thing ~ but all my other picks are done.

Lori laughed at me because I picked Buffalo (with my beloved Bobby Hurley as coach) and Harvard (with Tommy Amaker) to go to the Final 4.

Today, Kentucky plays Notre Dame.  It will be the first time I have ever cheered for Notre Dame (sorry Mike).  I am not sure I want a rematch of Kentucky versus Duke (Happy Anniversary Carole and Tony) - but it would be fun.

I hung some more pictures and moved a couple  (it never fails, I am either too high or too low sometimes).  Today I move into Mom's room on my quest to get all the boxes out of here. 

It is gorgeous and bright here in Durham and a chilly 36.  Tonight the weather guys are calling for a hard freeze.  Come on Spring!!!!

Time to walk the dogs and get out the winter jacket, again.

Love, Leslie

PS ~ Amy is working diligently on the money pit that is our old house.  And really, it is the age of the house working with the fact that the builder falsified permit signatures.  Anyway, Amy had the chimney guys out to clean and it turns out the chimney is cracked and leaking. $2800.00.

Luckily, she sold Mom's blue CR-V and that will give extra cash to pay for the chimney.

Then she says, "And guess what else happened" in the bad tone of voice.

She failed the eye exam for her driver's license renewal.  She wears glasses to help read the street signs, but she didn't wear the glasses for the eye exam.  It still makes me laugh.  

My question is this:  her license expires on May 1st.  She will be here on her birthday.  And she has 60 or 90 days to get her NC license.  Why didn't she just leave it and get her new license here?  I don't know.

Pictures Do Make A Difference

I got some pictures up ~ and boy, does it make a difference!

It does make it look more like home.  A nice mix of pictures ~ and it feels less like a loading zone.

Love, Leslie

Moving Forward

Check out the carpeting of the stairs!

It looks terrific!

Very nice guys ~ fast, and they vacummed after!  Frazee Carpets in Durham - very satisfactory!!!!!!

Whoops, got to go.  Mom is having trouble with her ipad.  Honestly, total operator error!!!!!

Love, Leslie

Today's Accomplishment

I did plan to polish the silver, but.......

At least the table is cleared.  I have to figure out where to put the horses and the white tablecloth won't stay.

Tomorrow, I am going to hang some pictures, take some stuff upstairs - like extra lamps and the eternal knick knack.

The stair carpeting is going in tomorrow ~ it will be fabulous!

And, Carole told me today that she went to the dentist and had her teeth cleaned.  She came home and ate some Cadbury Easter eggs (not the big ones, the mini ones) and broke a tooth.  The irony made me laugh ~ sorry Carole!!!!!  (The bigger ones won't break a tooth.)

I hope every one has a better tomorrow!!!
Love,
Leslie

Slow and Steady

Today is going to be close to 80 ~ and then cold again ~ just a tease before Spring and, dare I say, Summer, right behind??

Yesterday, Mom was up to her old tricks.  Calling a doctor to make an appointment and then calling me for help AFTER she got cut off and not knowing who she called.  Back tracking is not easy, but I managed to actually get the correct doctor and find out that yes, she had an appointment. 

And, she managed to unprogram her television.  Yes, I have the directions ~ sorry, they might as well be in a foreign language.  So, I put a call in to Jesse.

This is her mode when she gets itchy ~ I need to hurry up and get the unpacking done before she gets involved.  Honestly,  we have a lot of stuff and I am working on dividing it up ~ what to keep and put away somewhere and what to get rid of.

For example:

TA DA ~ you can now see the front door from the dining room!!!!

Stuff to put away ~ and then I have to polish the silver that will be out!

Another change ~ I like the blue and white vases on the mantle.

Today my goal is to finish in the dining room, polish the silver that will be out and MAYBE hang a couple of things. 

At the home front in Davidsonville, Amy is working her butt off.  George has been out daily and has cleaned up the yard.  He also was checking things out and saw that the basement insulation guys didn't actually do the greatest job, so Amy had to call and get them to come back out.  Also, he noticed that you can see daylight around the framing around the crappy sliding glass doors in the basement.  Since the newest home inspection is this morning, Amy got a bit freaked.  George kept telling her that "this is all minor and easy to fix".  I am going to miss having George around as our favorite handy man.

May today be easier for everyone.
Love,
Leslie

News

Another day, more news.

Amy had the septic people come out and drain the tank - it was due in March.  The guy said there is NOTHING wrong with the tank!  Amy spoke to the company and they told her that they have had "issues" with that inspector, that he was "the laziest septic inspector that knows nothing about septic tanks!" 

So, Amy is paying for a septic inspection, which is a good idea.  She and mom and I had a talk and oked the inspection, the house painting and the floor refinishing.

Then, Amy calls this morning to tell us that another couple had been calling the relator and BEGGING to see the house.  The realtor told them about the septic issues, and they still wanted to see the house. 

They have made an offer - and don't want anything done except the floor refinishing in the den! However, they don't want to settle until May 4th.  They are from California and Amy thinks their kids are in school.

Is this normal in the world of house selling?  I don't know.  Amy is going ahead with the septic inspection, and the stuff that she was planning on doing - chimney cleaning and floor.

So, who knows?

They dogs are ready to go for their walk.  Bye!

Love, Leslie

PS ~ UPDATE!!! The potential buyers have agreed to a April 21st closing!!!!! Cross your fingers!!!

PSS ~ Check out Maren and her dad at the law school banquet.  Maren won an award for prosecution advocacy.

 

 



This is the Bottom, Now Going Up

Well, bad news on the selling the house front.  Our septic system failed the home inspection and the buyers pulled out.  Poor Amy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

I did some research and found out that septic systems have a life of 25 years.  Guess how old ours is .... yep.  A quarter of a century of a dirty job. 

So now, Amy is regrouping and powering forward.  Getting the house painted and the wooden floors redone.  And, a new septic system.

This is not easy and I feel like I have run to the good life with Mom.  Unpacking doesn't seem like such a tough job.  Send Amy lots of love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3 Dog Night

This is how I slept last night.  Lori's dog Snoopy is the grey and white little fur ball on my lap.  Bennett's shoulder is to the right and Melanie is the brown one at my feet.  Please note that my room is a disaster but is going to be worked on this morning.  The dogs don't seem to mind.

Last night, Maren stayed over and she and I were trying to figure out HOW to turn on the shower in one of the bathrooms upstairs.  I honestly could not figure it out.  So Maren was twisting a ring on the faucet and I was right behind her holding the shower curtain.

We messed around for about 5 minutes and I said "Wouldn't it be funny if the shower just comes on and gets us right in the face?"  It must have been a cosmic moment because the shower came on and hit me!!!!!!!!!! We laughed ourselves silly as I dried off. 

If you enjoy college basketball, catch ESPN's 30 for 30's "I Hate Christian Laettner".  Fabulous!  I always thought he was a choirboy, not a button pusher.  And, I loved Bobby Hurley.  And, Hurley is the coach of the Buffalo team in the tournament.  Tommy Amaker with Harvard, Hurley with Buffalo ~ wouldn't it be fun to see one of them play Duke?  I will be watching.

Remember, send good thoughts and lots of love to Amy!

Love, Leslie

PS ~ remember my huge pile of boxes in the driveway that the city of Durham was scheduled to pick up?  Well, they blew me off.  I was concerned because a front was coming in and it was blowing and moving the mound of boxes. 

I called to find out what happened and the answer was "they were out picking up yard waste from the ice".  Ok.  Not helpful. 

So I go out with strapping tape and was going to tape some of the boxes to each other to add weight and prevent the moving.  Up comes a neighbor with a red pick up truck and they want the boxes.  So they load up.  Then my next door neighbor's 7 year old comes over and says her daddy wants some of the boxes.  Great.  Problem solved.  Easily.

This May Be the Norm

It all started with a lovely invitation to lunch.

We were invited to lunch at the Croisdale Country Club by Liz (long time friend of Lori and Jim) to meet her mother and sister.

We go - it is a rainy cool Saturday and we were there a bit early - which is rare for us.  We waited in the lobby - saw no one.  Heard nothing.  We were loud and figured someone would come and make sure we weren't unloading the furniture.

Lori suddenly says that maybe she had the day wrong!  Maybe Liz meant Sunday!  So, we left and decided to go to another favorite place, Bennett's Point.  It wasn't open on Saturday.

So Lori calls Liz ~ and Liz says that she is at the country club, where are we?  Luckily, not far away.  We get there and THEN immediately two gentlemen meet us and ask us who we are meeting. 

I love Liz and her family and we had a great time.

On Sunday, I continued to open boxes.  Lori had said that she was going to get Jim to come over and help move the two new mattresses upstairs.  But as the day went on, I figured that Jim was busy, or got held up in San  Antonio.  (He went out there for one of his judge's retirement and to see Carolyn).

We were going to dinner at Lori's and Mom was ready at 6pm and said to "Let's go".  I said we would be early, but Mom was ready.

We drive to Lori's and we are about to turn into their driveway when my phone rings and it is Jim wanting to know where we are.  They are at our house to move the mattresses!!!!!!

So Mom and I go back.  Mom wants to know why we are going home and then won't we be late?  And I tell her that we aren't supposed to be at Lori's until 7pm - which Mom insists is incorrect. 

We get home, move the mattesses and then go back to Lori's to have dinner.  Crazy may be the new normal for us.  At least there was lots of laughter!!!!!!

Lori and Jim went to Hilton Head, so I have their dog, Snoopy, so today has been full of nervous nellie dogs.  I also went and filled Lori's shift at her father-in-law's office and then came home to put all the broken down boxes at the end of the driveway.  Durham's recycling team gives newly moved in people a one time opportunity to put out their boxes to be picked up at a scheduled time, instead of waiting for your recycling day.  It is a huge pile.

This is probably 65% of the boxes.  The rest I have to cart to the dump.

I also moved into my real room.  I have been sleeping in what will one day be Amy's room, because she had a bed in there.  Since I now have a mattress, I cleaned up Amy's room, because Maren wants to spend the night here tomorrow. 

Her room and bathroom are all ready for her and my room is a disaster!  But coming together. 

Time for bed.

Love, Leslie

The Kitchen Before....

Here is the before picture of the kitchen:

Here is what it looks like now:

How many sets of dishes does one really need?

Well, at least the boxes are gone.  Now to put it all away.  THAT is the hard part.

And since I haven't had any dog pictures, here are my helpers:

More later, I have to get the kitchen finished today.

Love,
Leslie

Don't Look Now, But ......

Just a brief message.....I have opened all the boxes from the kitchen.  I will have pictures.  Currently, there is alot of stuff on the table and counter.  I will also show that.  But there is light.

I do have a small mystery.  Does anyone recognize this plate?

I know what it is ~ it is one of the Naval Academy china plates.  And I know they are collectable.  And I know this is the color that people want......I just do not know how we got it.  Mom said that maybe I gave it to her.  Nope.  Then she said that maybe Dad gave it to her!  I had to laugh ~ you know Dad never bought a plate in his lifetime.

So, if you have any idea, let me know.

I am going back to the kitchen to take pictures, clean up and vaccum.

Love, Leslie

My Apologies to UPS

Well, I feel bad.  Amy mailed mom's iphone and some assorted stuff to us ~ and I never saw the package.  Finally, we concluded it had been stolen.  I called Verizon and Amy called UPS.  It was a hassle.

My UPS guy came to the house and I signed some paperwork for the claim. 

I started on the last two rows of boxes in the kitchen.  Behind the top row was a smaller box.

This is the box.

It looked like some box that the movers cut down, slightly misshappen....and I wondered what was in it.  The iphone.

I honestly never saw that box.  I don't know how it got behind the boxes in the kitchen.  Oh well.

I also straightened the deck:

It will be beautiful with the cushions and pots of plants.

And emptied some boxes in the dining room.  The garage is full of broken down boxes and bags of paper for the dump.

I had better get my NC driver's license (so I can go to the dump) quick before we run out of room!!

In honor of Spring Training, I felt that I needed a new baseball shirt, so I got a San Francisco Giants one with North Carolina's favorite son, Madison Bumgarner, on the back.
I am ready for Opening Day.

Mom and I just got back from dinner with Jim, Lori and Maren.  Ate at El Corral and had a lovely time.  It will be wonderful when Amy is here with us!

Love, Leslie

Our First Trip to the Doctor

Mom woke up yesterday with pain in her ear and around the jaw area.  Not really an ear-ache, but pain.  She wanted a pain pill and lay low for the day. 

This morning, when I took her breakfast and coffee, she asked me what I planned to do today.  I said "open more boxes, put stuff away...."  She said, "No, you are taking me to the doctor."  Yippee!!!!!

We went to Duke Urgent Care.  Easy to get to and very nice.  We were there for almost 3 hours, but no problem.  Mom saw a doctor and he could find nothing wrong. And she said he thought arthritis.   But he did prescribe her additional pain medication (that she uses when she gets her eye shots).  Hmmm, should I be concerned about the ease in getting Tramadol?????? And then again, maybe not.  (Here is an update:  I looked at the paperwork that Mom brought home from the doctor.  He gave her a ton of information on TMJ ~ temporomandibular joint disorder.  Not arthritis.)

Brought Mom home, gave her a pill and a glass of wine and her lunch.  (What a life.) Took the dogs out for a walk on the trail in the Eno River State Park - so basically, all life forms in this house, except me, are taking a nap.

I have the ACC Tournament on and am opening boxes. Oh, just got off the phone with Amy.  The people who are interested in the house came over with a contractor and someone who knew the rules and regs. of the county.  It seems that the prospective buyers are interested in adding a mother-in-law suite - and the rule with the county that if the addition is over 1000 square feet, then the property has to be reperked.  1000 square feet seems like alot to me, and the prospective buyers evidently have added on and added on so much to their house in Arnold, that there is no where for them to go, so they have to move.  The plus to that, they are used to living in a construction zone!  (I know, don't count your chickens!!!!)

This is what the stair runner will look like.  We chose the Navy in the lower right.

The runner will go be installed in about 10 days - and it will make a huge difference since the stairs are bare wood. 

Back to the boxes!
Love,
Leslie

Caught

As you may not know, our dogs rule our lives.  That may come as a surprise to some, but secretly, you knew.

Today, mom, Lori, Jim, Maren and I left to go and get a couple of lampshades ~ with a stop for lunch.  When we left, this was the view from the front door.

Now, bear in mind, the dogs sleep on all the sofas and beds.  Except, the green sofa that is in the living room.  Bennett looks longingly at the green sofa, but I say "No, you get up on the red one."

When we got home, we speculated where the dogs would be.  I said they usually would be coming down the steps from sleeping on my bed, but we would check the green sofa. Bennett's face was peering out the window just like when we left.

And the burgundy pillows from the green sofa were on the floor.  Honestly.  He has no shame.  

Love,
Leslie

Busy, busy

Today in Durham it is beautiful!  Blue skies, no clouds and 36 degrees.  I know, it feels balmy compared to Davidsonville.  Sorry!!  :(

I worked on boxes again - it will be an endless repetition until I am done - which seems feasible, now that the living room is almost a living room and the keeping room is almost a room.  I have moved sofas, chair and lamps all around and switched things around.  So, here is a look:

This is the living room. The big red mirror will go over the sofa.

Living room towards porch.

The shameless Melanie (I think that is her favorite pose.  Those lamps won't stay ~ but I wanted to get some lamps out.

The keeping room.  I think my new Duke homage will go over this sofa.

Bennett and the keeping room.  I had the red leather chair and ottman where the plaid chair is ~ but the red leather chair looks better in the living room, so I moved it.

 We also had the carpet guy come out to measure the stairs for the runner.  It will look fantastic ~ and after lots of discussion about red vs beige we went with a navy oriental that blends with the Keeping Room and Living Room oriental rugs.

I also cost us the first buyers.  When Amy wanted to know what the flood insurance was, I found a document from NFCU that said the premium was $2500.00.  Mom said that she thought it was much less than that ~ but since we had documentation, we went with that. 

Today, Amy called because she found something that said it was $500.00.  I called USAA, and had to have Mom confirm that I could talk to USAA and found out that the flood insurance is $537.00 per year.  Drat.  So, USAA faxed Amy the documentation and if the second buyers fall through, then maybe the first ones will return.

Amy is suffering through the 7 inches of snow.  She shoveled the deck and paths for Buffy, and her knee is really hurting.  Her ortho called a friend at Duke to find a "good" surgeon to fix her torn ACL and both torn meniscus ligaments.  Her lament is that she will be on crutches for 6 weeks!

So, I have called two people to see if they can shovel Amy out.  My first friend got the last flight out yesterday for Las Vegas - 9 guys and they left all the wives, at home!!!!  That is so wrong!  And my second call went to an answering machine.  Oh well.  *****The Baird family came through and shoveled the driveway!!!!!! Amy paid them $100.00 and I just sent an edible arrangement.

Maren just called and she is on her way over.  And spring training has started.  And daylight savings time (Spring Ahead) is this weekend.  So no matter what, spring is coming.

Tonight is the Duke-Carolina basketball game.  I am ready for March Madness.  And, in a salute to baseball, I ordered my new baseball t-shirt:  Baumgardner for the Giants. 

Play ball!
Love,
Leslie