Slow Progress

Entryway before....

"Progress, of the best kind, is comparatively slow. Great results cannot be achieved at once; and we must be satisfied to advance in life as we walk, step by step." ~ Samuel Smiles (Scottish author, 1812-1904)

Progress here is slow. It feels like we are moving things from my parent's house to the new house, three or four boxes at a time. OH!!! Right!!! We really are moving things only three or four boxes at a time! Some of the boxes are running out of labeling room and it is very confusing to see "Box 19...Attic", "Nyssa's Books", "Lorane's Cookbooks", and "My Study" on one little box. Long gone are the organized labels listing the specific contents of the box. We are rapidly approaching the saturation point, where we can handle no more boxes until the furniture is here, we need the furniture to put the boxed up stuff into. My goal is to have their furniture here in the new house by October 1st... then we can unbox and clean the old house and have garage sales.

But progress, though at a snail's pace, does continue... I have begun to hang pictures, trying to remember that this is my brother's house and we have different taste's in some things. I decorated my home with photographs of family, most specifically... Nyssa. I did have one huge still life painting that I "won" in a contest I didn't even know I entered. It was ugly... actually, it surpassed "ugly" and made its way on to "ghastly hideous", but it filled a space on my dining room wall. It is now in the garage sale pile. (Stephen is very happy about that.) I did hang this picture over the piano in the entryway. It was the one year I really splurged and the photographer worked with an artist to create this oil canvas over the photo.

Today.....

I used my handy dandy laser level and one of those snappy "tiny pin prick hooks that holds a gazillion pounds" and there you have it. I wear many hats these days. I built shelves in the eaves of the house by my closet for sewing notions and storage... that is my carpenter hat. I sanded and painted and sanded and painted and sanded and painted some more... additional shelves for the built ins in the living room and den and a little open platform for the television in the den so that the VCR and DVD player could sit under the TV.... that would be the painter hat. I seem to have successfully connected the stereo system... well except for the speaker wires and have managed to connect an eight port router to the cable modem and ethernet wires so that all seven outlets are working. I have my PC connected and wonder of all wonders, my old Power Mac G4 that has not seen the light of day for almost four years is connected and working and on the internet and the internal battery is still alive, although with OS9 I don't know which browsers will still support it...I guess this would be my electronic technician hat. I have covered all the shelves and lined all the drawers in all the bathrooms and kitchen and laundry room in this house....

OH! Yes! And I have mowed the grass FOUR times and haven't set off the security alarm once!!!!

Time flew past... way to fast.

So forgive me if I haven't been around.. by the end of the day, my brain is mush. The only reason I had time to post this is because I need to be somewhere in an hour and I was trying not to get all sweaty. Isn't that a sorry explanation?

(still trying to do better... end of post)

Life Is Like A Box.... But Who Took The Chocolate And Left All This Junk?

Dining Room....a staging area for knick knacks.
My poor hutch and table are swallowed up in here and the table has the leaf in it!

"Violent exercise is like a cold shower; you think it does you good because you feel better when you stop." ~ Robert Quillen

I may have given the wrong impression with my post showing the formal living room in the new house with furniture and tables and even a flower arrangement in place. The rest of the house is basically in shambles. Well, not exactly "shambles".... (don't panic Stephen), but rather more of an out of control chaos..... and it is my fault, partly. When we closed on June 29th I had this wonderful, blissful plan. It started out ok with the dusting of the floors and the laying of the rugs. Then it went a bit awry!

First, the moving company held my furniture hostage longer than I expected. No problem, we will just start on vacating the 10 X 23 foot storage unit (see bottom picture). So I started with the Christmas items and boxes near the front and those wardrobe boxes; I could hang clothes in the closet without having furniture. This went well for a while, but then I started hitting the boxes with books.... lots and lots of books.... and these boxes started piling up in the new garage and suddenly it was full. So I stopped and started going through the boxes... these same boxes that only three years ago I had so carefully packed and labeled and weeded through before packing. I had had two garage sales and donated six boxes of perfectly good kids clothes to the local children's home and woman's shelter and six van loads to the charity thrift shop before moving, so you would think things would be in order... right? Oh! No! So garage sale boxes started and Ebay boxes started and boxes for Nyssa to sort through and trash....

Speaking of trash.... did you know that I just got the trash can from the city this week... the one I called for two weeks ago? So yes, I had to haul trash back to the old house, back to the storage unit trash bins and even one up to William and Mary, but not on purpose.

Anyway, I made a little progress and then hit the wall. No, really, I hit the wall in the storage unit... the wall of boxes, half way back that was stacked almost ten feet high; packed solid to the ceiling with these lovely boxes marked "Nyssa's books" on top that were heavy and the boxes clearly marked "CHINA - FRAGILE", stacked beneath them.. six rows beneath them. Even with a six foot ladder I am not going to get up there and... well, the knee I fell on is not so great and the other one is a bit crunchy. As I contemplated "two men and a truck" while my almost 80 year old father still insisted he could help.... Nyssa arrived to the rescue! She came and with her youthful enthusiasm, she dove right in on that wall and we started to see cracks. Of course we still had to go through the boxes and there still was no furniture and the garage was full to the brim.

The den... how most of the house really looks,
only worse... it is a staging area...well, for everything!

The three days before the furniture arrived, I worked hard to at least have space in the garage for the overflow of additional boxes as they came in. So, boxes had to go to the loft or the bedrooms where furniture was not going or... or.... just somewhere out of the garage. The den became a staging area and as I found kitchen boxes I unpacked them and .... you guessed it, began boxes for Nyssa to take to grad school. Merging two households and two that have such a propensity to collect kitchen gadgets is unbelievable. The grad school kitchen boxes mounted and it became obvious that the dream of not having a separate storage unit was for naught. The attic is not yet floored to our satisfaction and the walk in attic is too small for everything, not to mention the sixteen steps to the second floor and the pull down ladder up to the attic.... with my knees? Right! So a much smaller unit was procured, just a few blocks from the new house and.... just in time... there was space in the garage.

The old storage unit.....remember this picture!!!!!!

(To be continued.....the end for now)

BF and AF (Before and After Furniture)

Living Room.......BEFORE!

"I saw a sign: "Rest Area 25 Miles". That's pretty big. Some people must be really tired." ~ Steven Wright (1955 - )

I really haven't fallen off the planet... of course, you couldn't actually fall off the planet because of gravity and escape velocity and all those scientific things... but, you know what I mean. I had my Saturday pictures ready to post but my furniture was released from its storage prison and delivered and three young fellows kept asking, "Where?" and soon there were crates of pictures and boxes everywhere... even though there were already boxes from the other storage unit and boxes leaving for the garage sale room and... well, it was just a mess. Then Nyssa came on Friday and I only had her young body for two days to help with all those boxes stacked to the top of the 10 X 23 foot storage unit. So we hauled and lifted and opened and debated and decided on what we were completely attached to and what we could do without.

Living room........AFTER!

Then there was the Jericho incident... I felt a bit like Joshua. All I did was pick up one teensy, tiny box and turned to walk out of the unit and suddenly an entire block of boxes just fell down....Nyssa said it was almost slow motion. Fortunately they were light so no damage done; but the "walls (of boxes) came a tumbling down".

Entryway.....BEFORE!

So, this weekend, Nyssa and I spent the first night in the new house. I also spent Sunday and Monday night there... in the quiet with no internet, no computer, no television... just the radio intercom. We used the master shower that could hold four people and I used the master whirlpool tub while listening to an opera over the intercom in the dark with only the light from the street lamp outside to see by. It was very relaxing and helped my knee a lot. Of course I had to have the room dark... the huge window over the tub doesn't have a shade yet.

Entryway.......AFTER!

We cooked our first breakfast there with the gas stove and I didn't blow anything up... eggs, toast and sausage links. And we have a phone with a real phone number.... did you know that when you get a new phone service, you automatically start getting calls from the wireless people and the satellite TV people and mortgage people and on and on and on. I listed the number with the "NO CALL" service this evening.

So tonight I am once again at the parent's house. The dog has to go in for grooming and to have a mass removed from his skin so another early day! Then more moving and more boxes... never ending! By the way, these pictures are the before and after, though not complete by any means yet... later I will post the dining room. Mind you, my dining room set filled my dining room and was snug with the leaf in. Here I had to get them to put the leaf in so the table wouldn't look so "lost in space".

Back to the boxes!

(end of post)

Runners And Room-Size

The den, or "keeping room"....

"I will not play tug o' war.
I'd rather play hug o' war.
Where everyone hugs instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles and rolls on the rug,
Where everyone kisses, and everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles, and everyone wins."
~ Shel Silverstein (American poet, 1930-1999)

The furniture came... six crates of it and only three pieces that I actually forgot I had. So not too bad. The North American Moving Company branch in Mississippi packed it and put it in storage. Then six months into our affiliation, the owner decided to retire and no one wanted to buy the business, so he closed it. Therefore I paid for them to bring the whole business here where Harrison's kept it in storage until they delivered it yesterday. Only a few dings, except for my old cherry dresser; the fellows showed me how another heavy piece had been packed on top of it with ONLY a piece of paper between them. A pad would have prevented the half-dollar size gouge in the top. Of course, since the company has been out of business for two years now, there is no recourse for damages. Perhaps it could be repaired, although this set has been through a lot of moves... it is the one I used as a child and teenager.

Mom asked if I took any pictures of the rooms that NOW have furniture.... but both yesterday and today I worked until the light was gone and forgot to take light bulbs for the lamps. I did find more of the cushions and bedding and lamps today.... lamp shades do not store well, they move fine but store poorly... yellowing badly. So back to Garden Ridge... Naomi asked where these rugs came from... Garden Ridge. I think they have stores in thirteen states, but Oklahoma and Texas are as far west as they go. The carpets are always changing and the highest price is $199. The one above is another 10 x 13 foot room size in the "keeping room". Another 5 x 8 foot rug will have to go in the walk area between this one and the wide kitchen counter.... maybe someday a few tall barstools there.

Regal runner....

I moved some of the smaller rugs and runners around since I took the pictures. This one is now in front of the front door... I love the colors, they look so rich and regal.

From hallway to entry.... fit for music.

This one was in the hallway but I found it fit nicely in the large entryway; the perfect size at around 4'6" x 6'8" for the space I selected for the piano. It is perfect there and now the grandfather clock is alongside. Tomorrow..... a visit from the Maytag man..... and more boxes and lifting and sifting... but... Nyssa comes to help!!!! YEAH!!!!

(end of post)

On A Magic Carpet Ride

Round rug... in the eating area off the kitchen.

"Great is the power of habit. It teaches us to bear fatigue and to despise wounds and pain." ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC-43 BC)

This past weekend, Nyssa came to help me. I had gotten to a brick wall in the unloading of the storage unit. Boxes were stacked to the ceiling and seemed to go on forever... all were heavy. Together we made three loads and then she helped get some of the remaining top boxes down to a manageable level. Then she went through her Barbie boxes and picked four dolls to keep and the rest.... garage sale or if you please... moving sale!

So, more rugs.... it's what happens when the entire downstairs is hardwood floors! The one above is round, 91" in diameter. Another one of my "power shopper" finds.

Master bedroom sitting area.

The downstairs master bedroom will be my parent's room. It has a large sitting area with a bay window that backs on to the preserve. This rug is 9 x 12 feet. I think they are going to put an antique love seat and a chair here, perhaps a book case or a small desk along the longer wall.

The other bedrooms are upstairs... did I tell you that there are 16 steps on the back staircase. The front one is curved so probably more there. A typical day brings a loaded down van making the trek from Virginia Beach to Chesapeake. Then the unloading of the van.... use the legs... use the legs. The sorting of the boxes into things like "kitchen" (who knew one could have so many cookbooks and small appliances and still not cook much), Nyssa's room, Nyssa's stuffed animals, Nyssa's Beanies, Nyssa's books..... Oh, then there are a couple of Roxanne's books, or den books. All these boxes have to be gone through. Yes, I went through them when I moved but time passes and things that seemed important three years ago, seem absurd now.

Master bedroom rug (main area). Love the sage green.

This is the 10 x 13 rug for the main area of the master. Someone please tell my mom that these two rugs do not have to match. Both have browns and beige and sage and other colors. I think a sage comforter will be very soothing in here.

Close-up of the master bedroom rug.

Anyway, after the sorting of the boxes... sort of like the "sorting hat" in Harry Potter, although the hat is more accurate than the label of the boxes. That would be a problem with the one who packed them... me. It isn't always what it says and there are some boxes that were recycled from the move from Oklahoma to Mississippi some 15 years earlier. That is always interesting. So we (at least with Nyssa it was "we" for two days) go through them and make a pile for garage sale, a pile to store for Nyssa's grad school, a pile just to store and try and put the rest away. Since my furniture is coming tomorrow... perhaps this last part will get easier. Today I made 15 trips up those 16 steps with boxes of Christmas decorations, and loaded them into the walk-in attic. I am tired. Every muscle I have aches and now, my aches have aches. Advil is my friend.

By the way, please tell me... what do you do with those little pieces of things that look important and essential, but you can't remember which appliance they go with or what they do?

My furniture is coming from the movers storage... I paid the ransom. They will get it to the rooms and put the pieces together... except the washer, dryer and grandfather clock. Joy. Oh, yes.... we have a phone number... I can't remember what it is but we have one. However, while the house is wired for internet with a smart box and such... Verizon apparently does not provide DSL service in this part of Chesapeake yet. EXCUSE ME!!!!??????

Tomorrow night, I sleep with the fishes... or at least the Canadian geese that seem to be everywhere out there.

(end of post)

Rugs And Carpets: Nature's Mix

"Beware of people who fall at your feet. They may be reaching for the corner of the rug." ~ Bill Cosby (1937 - )

I have promised pictures of the rugs I bought for the house. Stephen will slowly replace these cheap versions with the real thing eventually. Nyssa said she would take them when he did. Smart girl, already planning on her move to Florida or Oklahoma or wherever, after graduation. This is the formal dining room and a 9 x 12 foot rug. It could have handled a 10 x 13 rug but this will do. When my furniture is ransomed next week, the oak dining set will go here along with my hutch that has glassed in shelves. Mom's set is cherry and very nice but has an Early American style and the shelves of the hutch are open and won't keep her glassware as nice.

This is a close view of the dining room rug with its tans, black and ecru patterns. In addition to my furniture, we will put my grandmothers huge mahogany hutch on one wall. It also has glassed in shelves and Mom keeps a lot of her antique glass in it.

This is the formal living room. The rug here is 10 x 13 feet. My den furniture will go here. It has been so long since I've seen it, I forgot if it was a solid color burgundy with a very tiny beige print or large floral pattern. I think it is solid and hopefully it will go with this. The set includes a sleeper sofa, love seat, easy chair with ottoman and two end tables. There is also a large square coffee table/footrest for the middle. I sold my formal living room furniture when I moved from Mississippi and Mom has a small love seat and one chair of my grandmother's that will go in the sitting area of the master bedroom... their room.

This is the formal living area from the opposite direction and the light is absolutely marvelous! The green area outside is the nature preserve land behind the house... hopefully a bluebird nesting box will go on the fence we have planned. (just waiting the home owners association approval)

Speaking of green and grass.....

"To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug." ~ Helen Keller (1880 - 1968)

I might have agreed with Hellen Keller until this afternoon. I decided it was time for the first "mowing of the lawn"... the wild grass mixed among the sod was growing faster than the grass and I had already carted the mower out there. So, I started in.... the lot doesn't look that big actually and I thought... "how hard can it be?" Do you know how long it has been since I mowed grass? Let's just say that I traded my lawn mower for lawn service in Oklahoma, back in 1989 and I didn't buy one when I moved to Mississippi and for 15 years in Mississippi someone else did my lawn. One year I gave my dad a years worth of lawn service for Father's Day and he liked it so much he kept on. So it has been a long, long, long, long time!

"I always thought a yard was three feet, then I started mowing the lawn." ~ C.E. Cowman

It isn't so much the walking and the lawn mower has a front drive pulling mechanism so you don't have to push; it's the vibration in your hands as you hold the lever down to keep the mower going. The fingers go numb and then the hands and then the arms.... a bit like the ascending paralysis of Guillain-Barre Syndrome! Then there is the weed-eater. Weed-eaters and I have a long standing feud. They hate me, I despise them. They love to suddenly throw out ten feet of fishing line at once and then break off and retract the line up inside the mechanism. In Oklahoma I spent two hours trying to weed eat down a flower bed that was no longer than twenty feet. I gave the neighbors quite a show, which culminated in me destroying the monster by beating it to death on the ground. That was the last day I mowed my own lawn..... until today!

Stephen! Do you remember when you said one of the first orders of business was to get a small riding lawn mower for Dad and I said that the lot wasn't that big and it would be unnecessary? Well.... It is entirely possible that I was wrong! I'll let you know if my fingers regain feeling by tomorrow and if my legs are still working.

(end of post)

Chesapeake's Newest Home Owner or When I Went To Medical School, I Never Dreamed I Would End Up A Lawyer

"Congratulations....WE DID IT!!!!!" ~ Elle Woods, "Legally Blond"

He looks calm and collected, right! You'd never guess he has just written the largest check of his life or signed his name five hundred times over the course of an hour and a half! He doesn't look as if he has 4600 square feet of hardwood floors to dust and damp mop with hardwood floor cleaner, does he? That is because he didn't! I did! Yes, I did it with his money but I did it!

Bless his heart! He is so excited and anxious and he has called almost every day. Then the communication workers in Germany went on strike so it took almost three weeks to get a phone and he still doesn't have internet so he has to go to the opera house to use the computer and get e-mail. I can't imagine what his handy (cell phone) bill is going to be this month!

He was already amazed that I found 13 houses for him to look at and that they were all very nice and would be great to live in. Then when two of them "spoke" or rather "screamed" at him and a third, "spoke loudly" and he actually had to decide....in three days, I think it threw him into a shock. Of course when the offer was made and accepted and a home inspection made and addendum accepted and the loan application done before he flew off the next day..... he was in complete shock and I was in the Twilight Zone. Closing set for three weeks from the day the contract accepted?

And then it was here... today... Nyssa and I went with identification in hand, a notarized power of attorney and the largest single check I have ever held in my hand. I was nervous, stomach in turmoil and I couldn't figure out why. It wasn't my money or life being signed away... Then a dawn of realization... this felt like going into a legal deposition. Would the seller be across the table? Fortunately, this was a title office and the seller was doing the close in his own attorney's office, so no face to face but much faxing.... after my part was done.

When I bought my former home in Mississippi, the contract was one, maybe two pages. Now there are disclosures and definitions and tons of places to initial and check. At closing it is worse, some pages had five copies to sign! And what do you sign if you are buying a house for someone else and have to act as their attorney? "Stephen(his full name) by Sheila Roxanne __________ (my FULL name which is longer than his and he got away with his middle initial), his Attorney in Fact." Yes, I had to sign all of that for most of the pages. They allowed me to put "his AIF" on a few pages after both of the names, of course, but these were few and far between. Even the pages I initialed were hard... SG by SRP, AIF. I am surprised that I didn't write Sheila instead of Stephen at least once!

But finally, it was done! I was an Attorney for the day, something I would never have thought would happen in my wildest imagination! Only two glitches... I can't "ransom" my furniture until July 11th and..... I should have already arranged to transfer the utilities into his name or actually, my name since most wanted him to call to put it into his name alone. Our agent was negotiating two houses for Stephen and thought she had given me the page of utility phone numbers and she had not. I thought she said she would give it to me at closing. But the seller didn't have any orders in to stop the water or gas or electricity, so it should be fine.

Nyssa, Dad and I started in on the floors and putting down the area room rugs and they look pretty good! While there we experienced our first lightning and thunder show in this new home and it was great.... I should be able to get some awesome lightning pictures from those upstairs windows. More to do tomorrow! Even the delay in furniture is fine... gives more time to go through the stuff in the small storage unit and get that moved in..... so all in all a good day! Right guys!!!????

RIGHT!!!!

Now that is the enthusiasm I expected!

PS: Several have asked about my knee. It is slowly getting better, but I am keeping a knee brace on it during the day.... right now, very tired but it held up. Tomorrow? We shall see.

(end of post)

Fortune Cookie

Fortune Cookie. June 27, 2007.

Dad stopped for Chinese food on his way home from Mom's rehab facility. When he broke open his complimentary almond fortune cookie, he found this.

Never known them to be that specific before.... or even close, actually! Closing is 10 AM on Friday, June 29th. All is in order.

(end of short post)

Shell Shocked!

"For a man's house is his castle." ~ Lord Edward Coke

The man and his castle.(Click picture for larger view)

I started the search with a pooled list of at least sixty homes in two cities; then eliminated ALL houses without a downstairs master bedroom. Then I had to visit the remaining houses. Some felt too closed in, some wasted space and many had poorly thought out floor plans and others were simply too out of date, requiring many thousands of dollars in upgrades and the headaches that go along with that. But some were drop dead and love at first sight gorgeous..... although, none were the 100%, everything you could possibly want, bells and whistles home. I kept so many on the list, but slowly and surely and with comparison and contrast and the infinite wisdom of an energetic realtor, I managed to narrow it down to nine homes in Chesapeake and five in Virginia Beach.

What a happy camper!

Then Stephen flew in from Europe on Monday... I was a nervous wreck! What if he didn't like anything I chose for him to look at? What if we couldn't get all this done in three days? What if he thought there weren't enough on the list to look at? I took many, many pictures of the houses and had a packet on each one with all the particulars, MLS sheets and made a spread sheet for each city to show the facets of each home in a way that was easily comparable. We started at 10 AM on Tuesday...and he spent almost 45 minutes in the first house. My main questions to him were.... is it spacious enough, is the kitchen satisfactory, is the yard satisfactory, is the layout ok, and most importantly, does the house "speak" to you?

Entering a new world.

By the end of day one there were three top contenders. Day two brought elimination of one home because of the Dryvit stucco issue and another because of less than great workmanship. One was just quirky and fun but had obvious water issues. Then we saw a house with all the bells and whistles, the pool and fence and a .75 acre lot. It was 99% perfect with fabulous kitchen, great layout and he loved the colors. The house didn't just "speak" to him, it "screamed" his name! It was a bit more costly but had been on the market since November so he decided then and there to make an offer.

Thus began the part of real estate that I would not be able to do... the negotiation! Back and forth with the seller giving very little until finally our realtor was disgusted as was Stephen. She gave our final offer and gave them three minutes to get back as we had our number two choice waiting on the other line. He would accept our offer if we used him as the mortgage lender!!!! Well! That not only was unacceptable, it is illegal! He is a mortgage broker and while we could have asked him to do the loan, he cannot demand it as part of a contract agreement. We turned him down and moved on. This seller lost a sale because he wouldn't come down $13,000. Turns out it was the fourth time he had mangled his chance and lost the sale.

The number two choice became our number one choice and after a few exchanges, our offer was accepted, but only verbally. We had a home inspection the morning of day three and had to write a supplemental addendum to the contract. Then it was the sit and wait and see if more back and forth would be in store. He didn't want to do a fence so Stephen dropped that but he had to agree to a drop in price. We had to agree to an earlier closing than expected. Not sure if we had a ratified contract, we headed to the loan officer and as we finished up there, he received a call from our agent.... As they say on House Hunters, "the house was Stephens"!!! Sighs of relief all around!

And there was immense quantities of light!!

So this is it! Stephen is happy! Oh! And the agent of the first house called back with another offer by her seller... this time he wanted to accept our offer if both agents would wave part of their commission. His agent just wants to get rid of him, ours was willing to do it so we would get the house. But both Stephen and I said, "NO WAY!!" This seller would have been a pain in the behind the entire time, unreasonable, difficult to deal with and most likely would use every detail to get out of the contracts. And in three more months when I drive by his house and see a "For Sale" sign still there.... I will just smile smugly and drive on "home".

By the way.... closing is set for three weeks from today!! Arrrrgh! Move in will have to be done slowly... much sorting and discarding and selling are in order as we strive to combine 2.5 households. But Stephen is pleased, Mom and Dad seem pleased and Nyssa is smug because she "called it"! (She said he would pick the one he finally did.)

Of course, now Stephen is on his way back to Europe and I sit here with power of attorney to sign and do all the details. Another inspection Monday, insurances, utilities, etc. Sigh! Oh yes! Now another house to sell... it never ends! I just have to remember these sage words of wisdom:

"Unless you move, the place where you are is the place where you will always be." ~ Ashleigh Brilliant

Yes, wise words indeed!

(end of post)

Still Looking!

"Any houses down there?"(Click picture for larger view)

"I'm looking for the unexpected. I'm looking for things I've never seen before. ~ Robert Mapplethorpe

Today was a whirlwind. Armed with a spreadsheet of information on each house and a packet with pictures and MLS sheets, we took Stephen to nine houses in Chesapeake. From 10 AM to 5 PM we looked and poked through closets, bedrooms, kitchens, dens, master bedrooms, bathrooms, upstairs and down and at the end of the day.... he narrowed the contenders down to his top three. But wait! Tomorrow is Virginia Beach. While there are only four main contenders here, there are the models in Heritage Park to think about. So, we are still looking. Hopefully by early tomorrow afternoon, we will have it down to a top three total and return for a thorough look. Stephen thinks he might be able to make a decision and perhaps make an offer by tomorrow night or Thursday morning. Believe it or not... my top three today are the same as his and in the same order. Are we in sync or what? Things went smoothly with only minor delays..... hopefully the same tomorrow!

And as for my mother's surgery...

"Ankles are nearly always neat and good-looking, but knees are nearly always not." ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

She was wheeled into surgery on time! Amazing in itself! In a couple of hours the procedure was done and she now has a new knee. This time they gave her sedation and spinal anesthesia and her blood pressure hasn't been such a problem. The hospital has a new orthopedic floor and all the rooms are private, with a futon bed so dad could comfortably stay overnight with her.

Stephen, Nyssa and I went down to see her this evening. She has had a low fever and is still quite loopy from the pain medication, but that is to be expected for the first two days post op. The plan is for her to be transferred to the rehab facility on Thursday but she will have to be off her pain pump. She will be there for about a month and then have rehab therapy at home and as an outpatient for about three months total. A heartfelt thanks to everyone sending up prayers for her speedy recovery.

(end of post)

Not Your Average "Manic Monday"

"I don't know how they keep the choices down on "House Hunters"; I under stand why; I just don't know how they do it..... my head is spinning!" ~ srp

A dream of castles in brick and stone.

No this is not just another Monday or even another Manic Monday as the Bangles would sing. (I am dating myself here) Perhaps this would better be called Manic Monday Gone Wild. I have waded through fifty or more MLS sheets, done uncountable numbers of internet searches, walked through and examined over 25 houses personally and narrowed the search down to 9 top contenders in Chesapeake and probably 6 contenders in Virginia Beach.

Let there be light!

Some were easy.... no first floor master bedroom... immediately to the discard pile. Others are much harder. My brother has very specific wants.... five bedrooms (he may have to give on that), gourmet kitchen (and that too), lot large enough for a pool and hopefully a pool, adequate bedroom size for the others, a sunroom and/or screened in back porch.... the list goes on. I have done my very best and fallen in love with house after house... see, I am not a good one for this job! How did I ever pick a home all by myself from scratch in two days when moving to Mississippi? Oh, yes... I was 17 years younger and very naive.... that's how!

Yes, the Vikings discovered America! So did the Jenn-Aires.

So today I need to see three or four more houses in Virginia Beach and finish my spread sheet and packet. Did I tell you I was making a spreadsheet? No? Well, I am the spreadsheet queen so yes, I made one for each town. The houses listed and all the specifics of price, square footage, pros, cons and even a rating category, placed where they can be compared back to back. This in addition to individual house packets with the MLS sheets and any print outs of all the pictures I took when viewing it. Yes, I have Chesapeake completely organized, Virginia Beach is more up in the air.

Cool down for the summer. Salt water pools are all the rage!

But that is not all. Today, right now in fact, my brother is winging his way across the ocean to arrive, hopefully not that jet lagged. I don't know exactly when. Nyssa wants to tag along tomorrow so she will show up later today. I hope he is not too cranky tomorrow and I can help him keep them all straight.

In addition to all the house hunting whirlwind, my mom is having her other knee replacement... and should be going into surgery within the hour. So there is juggling of that and getting people to sit with her because I am sitting with my brother and it is really, really a mess. If I survive this week... I can survive anything! So forgive me for not being around the past few days and for not coming around the next few days.... this should even out by Friday!

Oh, yes! One last thing. If Stephen cannot find one house in all of these that he can live in and with...... then he is on his own with this house hunting business!!!!

"Dear Lord in Heaven, please watch over Mom in her surgery today and guide the surgeon's hands. Let her pain be as minimal as possible. Oh! And please.... don't let Stephen decide to build a house from scratch.... Thank you! ~ Roxanne."

PS: If only the above pictures were all contained and wrapped up into one house! Sigh!.

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