Playing Catch-Up

It's been a while for sure.  I think about my blog every once in a while but the lack of exciting news in my life seems to keep me from writing a post.  Plus, one of the main reasons for this blog was to keep my mother up-to-date with my life so that she wouldn't call me with a million questions.  She isn't able to read now so the motivation is gone.

Living with my mother was harder than I expected.  There was no way to keep her happy.  At the end of June, she agreed to move-in to an assisted living place because she didn't like being alone all day while I was at work.  We moved her there.  The weather was so hot and my nephew and I moved her stuff there ourselves.  It was a nice one bedroom apartment which opened to a shaded courtyard.  She hated it and they said they couldn't keep her.  I think she was there a whole 10 days.    I brought her back to the house for a week while I looked for a memory care place closer to home.  The cost was a lot more, $5,000 compared to $2,800, but at least she couldn't walk out.  The new place moved her stuff for us.  I was so happy about that. 

She hated it there too and called me many times a day to tell me but I couldn't bring her back to the house.  She wasn't able to live without supervision anymore.  People try to be helpful and say couldn't you just hire someone to stay with her while you are at work?  I could, but I could not mentally stand it.  She didn't know what time it was.  Knocked on my bedroom door at all times of day and night.  Moved stuff around so that I couldn't find things.  Wanted to drive the car.  Walked out the door. Complained of all sorts of illnesses and issues from wetting the bed to not liking her shoes.  Wrapped up food, trash, soiled clothes and hid them until they molded and smelled.  Poured oil on the stove. Turned the A/C up when she was cold (yes, it gets colder).  Thinks people are stealing from her and breaking in to the house.  I could go on and on but anyone who has experience with dementia knows what I'm talking about.  I did find a special programmable phone for her after she called 911 ten times at her new place.  Instead of single numbers the buttons only call preset people.  I'm glad someone invented that because I didn't want her to be totally cut-off from communication.  Unfortunately, she can't remember how to work the TV or her computer anymore and she can't read well so she is bored most of the time.  If you want to rile her up just say the word "Bingo".  She hates it.  I spent about 6 hours with her on Sundays, took her to church and shopping or out to eat.  It was getting more difficult though because last time she refused to get out of the car when we got back and before that she grabbed on to my arm and wouldn't let me leave.  I would have visited her more if she was more amicable.

In the middle of this moving from one assisted living apartment to another, Jimmy-dog suddenly became ill with diarrhea and vomiting.  I took him to the vet and they tried to help him but he died at home the next day.  I think his tumor finally interfered with something important.  I miss him.  

With mother out of the house and Jimmy-dog gone, I tried fostering again.  I took in two chihuahuas after a local shelter had flood damage.  It was only supposed to be for a month but it stretched into 3 months and I finally returned them.  The two chihuahuas were very scared and I was hoping they would like me and relax here but they stayed in the closet and only came out to pee on my stuff.  I had to put up a puppy gate in front of the closet to keep them in while I was at work. 

I also tried to foster a larger dog but that was a disaster.  I picked out a dog that was on the euthanasia list.  He was black and tan like Jimmy-dog and I thought maybe I could adopt him if he fit in.  Well, someone else wanted him so the rescue suggested that I get another dog.  This is where I should have said NO but he was going to die and I thought, maybe, he was a pit bull mix, not one I would have picked, but his evaluation just said he was a little shy so I drove an hour and a half to get him.  Then, I volunteered (I must have really been feeling energetic that day) to transport another larger dog at the same time.  I thought I would just drop the other dog off but as I was driving back the rescue called and said they couldn't get ahold of the person who was going to foster the larger dog, then, when they realized the dog wasn't neutered they asked if I could drop him off at the vet in the morning.  I said ok, one night wouldn't hurt.  

So I dropped him off the next day and then they asked if I could keep him for a week while he heals from surgery because the other foster home had a pool and they didn't want the incision to get wet.  I reluctantly agreed.  These two new dogs quickly became more than I could handle.  They were both around 4 years old and very strong.  The one I was supposed to foster was not house trained and my bedroom became a disaster area.  My terrier did not like either one of the big dogs and let them know it.  He got bitten 3 times in the head, the last time he was bitten I ended up crying to the rescue that I just couldn't do it.  I felt like a failure but I had to protect my dog.  Things got out of hand so quickly.  By the end of the week I was taking my terrier to work with me every day and we were hiding out in the guest room at night because the foster dogs would whine and scratch at the door for hours but I couldn't trust them around my terrier. Finally on Saturday I took the larger dog to his new foster home and the smaller (50 pound) dog had to go to a boarding facility until they could find a new foster.  I paid for his boarding so the rescue wasn't really inconvenienced and they found him a new foster home 2 weeks later.  Later on my dog's head got infected and he needed half of a face lift to close the wound.  I will spare you the Frankenstein picture.  I thought he had only been scratched but it was actually a puncture wound.

Around the end of September, my mother fell.  When I went to visit her, she was in a wheelchair and now had to wear diapers.  No one could explain why she suddenly couldn't walk and she could barely say coherent words.  I thought she might get better but the doctor at the facility just gave her more sedatives and anti-anxiety meds.  She fell out of bed and her wheelchair many more times.  Finally, I took her to a previously scheduled neurology appointment with a doctor she had seen back in April.  He was appalled by her condition and told me to take her to the ER for a complete work-up.  We spent the next couple of days at the hospital while the very young doctors tried to diagnose her.  What we did find out was that she had a broken pelvis from a previous fall and extra fluid on her brain.  There was ultimately nothing they could do for her that wasn't invasive surgery.  We didn't think she would survive another surgery so I took her back to the care-home.  My sister came out to visit and we went to look at a smaller group home where we thought she would get better care and attention.  We moved her there and that is where she is now.  The hospice people come and visit her and make sure that she is getting good care.  They got her a hospital bed with an air mattress and a wheelchair.  Her condition is about the same.  Some days she sleeps a lot and some days she is awake and trying to stand up.  She is still close by and I try to visit her 3 times a week.  Lately, I think she recognizes me but I never know if she will or not.

And back to the dog situation.  My other sister came out to visit for Christmas and we went dog-shopping at the pound.  I was looking for an old mellow dog, preferably female.  Well, I found this old guy.  He was sleeping and didn't seem to care about the barking around him.  He is 14 years old according to his previous owners, 75lb. pit-chow mix, and arthritic.  I brought my terrier to meet him and it went well so I brought him home.  I know he won't be around for very long but I'm glad I can give him a comfortable bed and good food while he's here.

He has a soft cone on so that he doesn't lick his leg where he had a lump removed.

One last photo of the Arizona snowman made from the 3 whole inches of snow week got the first week of January.

The Past Few Months

Maybe if I work on this synopsis of the last few months a few minutes a day, I will catch up.

1. The move: As you know, my mother bought a house and we both moved in mid-August. It has been non-stop activity since and it is still on-going. I am very tired of moving!
2. My mother's townhouse: We decided to tackle moving my mother's stuff out of her townhouse first because it was smaller than my house and close by. When we had removed most of the personal items, we asked our realtor how much stuff to leave for "staging"and what to take out. The realtor came over, gave some suggestions (less is more) and commented that another realtor in her office had some out of town clients looking in the area the next day. My mother gave her permission to show it even though it hadn't been cleaned and was still in disarray. Surprisingly, the people liked the townhouse and made a full price offer. We were thrilled and made plans to move the rest of the stuff out. It was hot and a lot of work but with a rented Uhaul truck and two rented guys, we got it done.
   
   Unfortunately, ALL of the stuff, including the trash, was now at the new house. We are still sorting through it.
3. My house in Tucson: It has been very hot and finding the time to drive to my house, 45 minutes away, has been difficult. I have made a few trips, car loads, pick-up truck loads.
   
   What remains is the miscellaneous, most of which can be given away or taken to my property. These things are most tools, gardening items, fencing, anything I won't be needing in the suburbs. The new backyard has very little garden space. I've been throwing old seeds out by the drip system emitters. That's the extent of my gardening, at the moment. The new house does have roses and citrus trees so keeping those alive is enough responsibility for now. This week, my handyman has begun the repairs I need to do before I list it for sale. I do want to replace the kitchen cabinets but haven't figured out exactly what to replace them with. Maybe IKEA cabinets if I can take a day off.
4. The dogs: I got Francis adopted the Saturday before I moved. That was very fortunate as she was the most energetic and the loudest barker. I brought 4 dogs to the new house and talked to all of my neighbors who were home to let them know to tell me if the dogs bothered them. Everyone was fine...until last week. The snowbirds who live on the corner came back and the dogs barked like crazy when they heard new voices. The neighbors complained to the homeowner's association and we got a visit from them. Turns out the neighbors like to eat breakfast in their backyard. So, out came the bark collars and I had a nice chat with the neighbors and gave them my number in case the dogs start barking again. BUT...I also got my last foster dog adopted last week and we finally got solid gates on the fence so the dogs can't see the people who walk down the alley. Big improvements.
   
5. Living with my mother: It's a work in progress. Between moving, selling my house, my job, and regular life stuff, I don't have a lot of time. My mother wants to watch movies and I just want to take a nap. She does the grocery shopping and the dishes, which is very nice. I make dinner on the weekends and try to have enough leftovers for the week.
6. Rental house #1: I got a notice that the tenants were moving out in August. Almost immediately, I got a notice that new people were moving in. There are always repairs and cleaning bills so I waited for the email. The second week in September, I got an email from the management company that said I needed to authorize $2500 in expenses so that the tenants could move in in 3 days. I was like, um, no, you're fired. They were apologetic and re-did the estimate.
   
   I looked at the property and decided to pay for carpet replacement, got my handyman to clean up the yard, and took a day off work to paint the walls with my handyman which only cost $350 rather than the $1,100 that was quoted to me. I also took down the old window shades and put up shear curtains.
   
   
   The tenants decided not to move in but I got to keep their $850 deposit and new tenants have since signed a lease. Hopefully, Rental house #1 will be stable for a while.
7. Rental house #2: My tenant, the one that was living out in my mobile home and then I bought this little house in town for him to rent, has decided to move to Brazil at the end of the month. He wants me to help him re-home his 2 dogs and 2 cats. Unfortunately, I am not in a position to foster so I can only help with advertising them. Soon, I will need to find a new tenant. I've had a few inquiries but the area of town that it is in isn't the greatest and I don't think either of the single women who inquired would want to live there. Someone will appreciate it though. Hopefully, a responsible person who always pays their rent on time.
8. My mobile home property: It's being totally neglected. I go out there to collect the mail once a month. The weeds are taking over. I hate seeing it like that but I don't have the time or money to work on it yet. Once my house sells, maintaining the property will be easier.
   
   Maybe I will even have some money for more improvements like bringing electricity to the barn-shed and building more fencing or walls to keep out the snakes.
9. My job: It is going crazy. They let one person go from our office and they have asked me to go to out plant in Mexico twice a week. So far, I've only been going once a week because I get so behind on my emails when I go down there. I want to take some time off to work on the house that I will be selling but I just seem to be getting more and more behind every day. I think I will take a half day every Friday anyway because I have some vacation time to use before December. Since I'm going to the Mexico plant, I've finally started trying to learn some Spanish. I downloaded the Duolingo app on my phone and I have practiced every night for 2 weeks. The beginning stuff was easy because I did have Spanish in high school but it is quickly getting harder. The most of the people at the plant speak English but I tell them all that I am trying to learn so they teach me new words. Todays word was carrots: zanahorias. 

There you go. The quick synopsis. My home computer is still dead and I don't have the new laptop they are supposed to be buying me yet. Maybe next month.

We're All Graduated!

The week I have been both looking forward to and dreading is finally over. It has been the end goal ever since my nephew came back to live with me two years ago. GRADUATION WEEK! and all that went with it. It began with my birthday, then Mother's Day, the Choir concert, Honor's night, Choir Awards Banquet, Choir Lock-In, Graduation, my sister visiting, and celebratory dinner with nephew, sister and mother. Whew, done. 

My sister went home today after taking my nephew shopping for college clothes. We went to a final doctor's appointment for a booster shot and enough asthma and allergy medicine to hold my nephew over until he goes to Minnesota on Saturday where he will be magically cured of all that ails him. Well, at least, it seems that he doesn't have as many allergic reactions back there which is funny because "the desert" used to be the place for less allergies. But, his grandfather doesn't have pets except for the next door dog which visits and there is less dust although there is more mold. 

For the remaining days until he leaves, we will shovel through his room and make the appropriate piles for immediate use, college use, and storage. Then I will ship his things off to Minnesota including the golf clubs which were shipped here from Minnesota but never used because he lost interest. His grandfather golfs so hopefully they will get some use again.

It's an exciting time of change and possibilities for us. My nephew is excited because he has enough money to buy his own gaming computer now with no parental controls or screen time limits (I keep warning him that he still has to do his homework or reap the consequences). And I am excited to get on with the cleaning out of this house and selling of it so that the mortgage and home equity line of credit can be paid off before my mother and I buy a house together. The weather has moved in to the 100's this week so that puts a bit of a damper on my enthusiasm but at least I will have less to do on the weekends and less grocery shopping. It's time for super-saver frugal mode while I eat all of the leftovers in the house and get organized once again.

Full House

Last weekend was a whirlwind of activity starting on Thursday night when my sister and crew arrived at my house.  6 extra people in the house for dinner was a challenge especially since I don't have a dining table, my nephew and I just eat at the kitchen bar.  There are 4 bar stools and then the couch and recliner.  It was ok, every surface can be cleaned.  Then 3 of the kids went to my mother's house to spend the night and we planned the activities for the next day.  Having half of the people staying 45 minutes away added an hour and a half on to the beginning and end of the day which meant either planning short activities or expecting a very long day. 

On Friday, we had breakfast and picked up my mom and the kids around lunch time.  Then we went to Sabino Canyon. (which I had never been to because I don't do touristy things on my own and the rare time people visit me they usually do not want to hike)  It had a tram ride up the hill and my mom and I took it while the kids hiked up.  There is a pretty creek from the snow melt and the weather was great. 

A hill of saguaro cactus.

Riding the tram with Mom.

 I would like to go back some time when I can spend time at the creek.  After that we went back to my house for dinner and took the kids back to Mom's house.

On Saturday, we hung out at Mom's house, the kids went swimming, and then one kid had to catch a flight out because she had to get back to work.  I bought pizza, the kids played games and we finally left late. 

Sunday was zoo day.  I had never been to the Reid Park Zoo.  

It was nice but it is not something I would do again unless I was entertaining people who liked zoos.  After 3 hours, I had a terrible headache and it took a 2 hour nap to get rid of it.  I awoke just in time to see the end of the Super Bowl.  My mother gave me a new flat screen TV to replace my old tube TV.  I was surprised to find that I could get the Super Bowl through my Roku on the FoxSportsGo channel.   Dinner at my house again and I was beginning to miss the cleanliness and order of my kitchen but tried not to let it bother me.

I took Monday off and we went on the Airplane Boneyard tour from the Pima Air and Space museum.  I had always wanted to do it but I was disappointed because it wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be. 

 I'm just not that interested in the specs. of old planes.  it would have been more interesting if we had gone in the museum but we were out of time.  I'll remember that for next time.  Lunch was at In and Out Burger and dinner at my house again.  The kids and I took all 5 dogs for a long walk.  Jimmy-dog and my little foster dog were so slow at the end, I was beginning to worry that Jimmy-dog would just sit down but we all made it back.  As a last hooray, we went to play mini-golf in the evening. 

 I think mini-golf and the free laser tag with our Groupon was the most fun because everyone had a good time and there wasn't any whining. 

I had to go back to work on Tuesday and face the mountain of emails and the gang left around noon.  It was nice to get my house back in order but it sure was fun to have them here while it lasted. 

Week One

One week down.  I thought each quarter of high school was 8 weeks but then I looked at the calendar and it is more like 10 weeks plus 2 weeks for spring break so that means I have at least 20 more times of traveling back and forth with the boy, the luggage, and the dogs.  Yes, I am getting tired of going back and forth between the house and the mobile home.  Operation 'Get Your License' has commenced for the nephew.  I got off work early, loaded up the luggage and dogs, picked my nephew up from school, drove to the house, nephew unloaded luggage while I unloaded dogs, drove nephew to the motor vehicles department (MVD), sat and waited for an hour and a half, found out that we were too late to take the driving permit test.  D'oh.  Good news is that we will have priority when we go back.  Bad news is that I have get out of work early again.  He needs his driver's license before his senior year starts in July so that he can get a parking permit for school.  The seniors get first priority and then the juniors get the leftover permits.  Once he can drive we can live at the house and not have to be near the school bus stop.  I love living out at the mobile home but there are challenges, lack of water, maintenance issues, needs electrical upgrades, dirt road, etc... It will be easier to live out there alone when I don't have the added financial responsibilities of a teenager and I have money available for home improvements.

I finally set up my cat-cam for the storage room.  I had hoped to catch a glimpse of my Siamese mouse-catchers but when the camera alerted me to movement in the room I saw this:

Who are you?

That's not my cat.  I am glad that it is a cat though.  A raccoon or rat eating the cat food would have been disturbing.  I have missed other motion notifications from my camera at 3am so I hope that my cats are still coming around.  Maybe they prefer to come out at night.  If my cats did flee, I hope this cat will stick around long enough to chase off any mice or rats while it is here.

I brought back the borrowed cat cage and table to the cat rescue.  They have a small boutique store that benefits the cats and there are cats to adopt that roam around the store.  My nephew loves cats so I brought him along and he was in cat heaven.  He was even considering volunteering there although he really just wanted to play with the cats.

Tonight's dinner, beef stew and biscuits made almost from scratch.  I bought one of those beef stew flavoring packets so I did cut corners a bit.  It turned out well with enough leftovers for another meal.  Tomorrow I need to plan ahead and pre-cook some meals.  More homemade lasagna, maybe I will try to make mac and cheese.  Cook more chicken because chicken is always useful.  I need 4 meals.  Monday-Thursday.  Beef stew, burritos, spaghetti, hmm...chicken and rice maybe.   I better have a plan.  If I don't have a plan, fast food will call to me like a siren.

Winning The Bad News Lottery

After my father's funeral, we encouraged my mother to meet my sister and her family in Florida for their family reunion/Disney World vacation.  It seemed like a fantastic idea.  Mom would have time with her grandchildren, meet her great-grandbaby for the first time, travel like she has wanted to do for so long, and get away from the reminders of her life as a caretaker of my father.  Everything went well until last Sunday... the morning before the day she was supposed to return to Arizona, she got up to use the bathroom in the dark, got confused by the unfamiliar house, fell and broke her hip.  It is what she had feared for so long.  One of the main reasons she moved to Arizona was because she was terrified of falling on the ice in Washington and breaking a hip.

But it gets worse.  The hospital gave her morphine for the pain.  Evidently, many seniors come down with a thing called 'hospital delirium'.  They aren't sure of the cause but they think it has something to do with morphine, anesthesia, possibly dehydration, and the combination of medications that elderly people are taking. This condition which causes hallucinations and paranoia, can go away in a few days, a few weeks, or never.  It's only been 3 days since the surgery so we are still hopeful.

And still worse, my mother is now stuck in Florida where we have no friends or relatives.  My sister is only able to stay until Monday.  Mom was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital today and has to be there for 2 weeks before they will possibly clear her to fly.  After that she will fly to be near one her daughters to complete her therapy.

I just can't even wrap my head around all of this misfortune.  I had hoped that she would be able to travel for at least a year before something like this happened.  Not only am I extremely sad for her, but everyone in my family is looking at their own future and wondering.  The urge to retire NOW is growing but I still can't seem to do it.  There is a lot of security in that bi-weekly paycheck.  I have very little in savings after all of the renovating.  My rental house is still in transition between tenants and I am having to pay for repairs and utilities.  I am not ready to sell my house just yet.  I'm not even ready to sell my truck and now I have my mother's car too.  That's 3 cars sitting in my driveway.  All I know is that I had better not wait too long to retire because there is no guarantee that my physical or mental health is going to cooperate with my retirement plans.

Plumbing Fail

In between family gatherings and funeral texts, I tried to get water hooked up for my nephew's bathroom.  Not having water is terribly inconvenient and I must fix it asap.  I spent most of Wednesday hooking up the outside plumbing not knowing whether the old pump would  work.  At the end of the day I turned it on and I got a trickle of brown water, then it stopped.  I thought about it overnight and decided that I needed to prime the pump.  Turns out I was wrong.  I actually needed to turn on the valve from the water tank.  Oops.  Ok, so I was hopeful again but still, I couldn't get water out of the faucet.  Then I remembered that I had this problem when I first hooked up this pump 13 years ago.  There is so much dirt and, um, probably spider bodies in the pipe that everything was clogged.  I unscrewed the screen on the faucet and it was full of brown stuff.  Still, the water only came out at a trickle.  I'm not sure if there is a blockage somewhere else but I can see that I need to test the pump at various points to see where the problem is.

Today I was totally fed up with the old pvc plumbing system and I bought PEX pipe and fittings.  I hope this works better with no leaks and that I can get the sink hooked up this week at least.  Also, I know I was hesitant about buying a low flow toilet.  I had put it on the low priority list but after a week of hauling 4 gallons of water to the toilet everyday, a 1.6 gallon flusher is looking pretty good and there is one for $88 with good reviews.  I'm going to order it tomorrow.

I also bought shelf brackets and a dowel so that I can have a place to hang clothes in my room and a piece of wood to make a dish washing station at the kitchen sink.  I decided to move the pantry shelf rack to the other wall and brought my two cabinets in and put the countertop on them.

I like all the counter space so I think I will leave it this way.  My mother is going to finish painting the doors soon.  Now I need shelves and the over-head cabinet with a curtain rod to hang pots and pans.  I just had 5 days off but I wish I could have more to work on these projects.  I have a busy week of work ahead.  3 days of unread emails await me in the morning.  I am not looking forward to that.

I did manage to get one security screen door installed.  I hope to get the other one done next weekend.  It wasn't as hard as I expected after I got the proper drill and drill bit.  My old drill decided to not charge anymore but I had my dad's old drill which still works great.

No school tomorrow for the nephew so we are staying in our luxurious accommodations (with lots of hot water on demand) for an extra night.  I'll be back during the week to check on things.

Miss you Dad!

Like Father, Like Daughter

Whew...is there an end to this project?  Last weekend was so busy it started Friday evening and spilled in to Monday.  My niece is finishing up her textured wall project.  Tomorrow she will paint it, I think.

I made some purchased from Amazon.  An air purifier, a Roku, and a roll of shade fabric were all thrown in this giant box together.  It was so big, it blocked my car.

Big box with small boxes and a lot of packaging.

So, Friday evening my niece and I meet at Home Depot.  We go to the flooring department and there was an associate who asked us if we needed help.  I was thrilled since finding help at HD usually takes forever but then the guy says that the flooring associate is helping the forklift guy and he will let him know we are waiting.  Bummer.  So we wait and wait and wait.  After what seems like 15 minutes, I go ask for help at the customer service desk.  Right then the flooring guy shows up and says there are two people ahead of me.  I say fine and go back to staring at flooring.  The guy shows up after a few minutes because the other people didn't need him.  I tell him that I want a vinyl remnant which is advertised on sale so he digs through the pile of poorly marked end rolls and finds mine.  Then I wanted a piece cut to size so he has to clean up the mess he just made when he threw the other end rolls in the aisle.  I tell him to cut it 13' 3".  He repeats it and finds a helper.  He asks me again, 13.3?  I say no, 13' 3".  He says ok, cuts it, rolls it up in plastic wrap and tags it by the square yardage.  My niece and I roll our unwieldy cart up to pay and a nice associate helps us load our truck.  Originally, we were going to take it to the property but it was 6:30pm already (it took over an hour to buy it) and it was very hot so we went home.

The next day we take our roll of vinyl to the mobile home and lay it out.  It is short by 3 inches.  I measure the wall.  13' 3".  I measure the vinyl 13'.  ARGHHH.  I thought about trying to roll it up and take it back without the aid of the plastic wrap and in 110 degree heat.  I knew there was not enough left on the roll at HD to get another piece immediately.  The associate had told us it would take a few days to re-stock because I need another piece for the living room.  I decided to keep it.  The short side will be mostly covered by the sink, future counter, fridge, and door mat.  The next piece will be a little longer so that I can cover any visible areas.  I haven't complained to the store yet but when I do my store survey which is on the receipt, they will hear the whole story.

Anyway, besides being 3" short on one side, the flooring looks very nice.  I picked up a free loveseat from a facebook garage sale page.  I can definitely see progress being made.

On Sunday we went to visit my dad for Father's Day.  I found this photo of him and me when I was 3 years old and he was 35, I think.  He had 5 children and was building a house on his own on evenings and weekends while working a full time job.  I don't know how he did it.  I'm exhausted with no children and only working on my mobile home on Saturdays.

I baked him a mini-chocolate cake.  He seemed to enjoy it.

This morning I attempted to work at home but couldn't get my computer to cooperate.  My plan was to was to wait for the gravel company to call me because I ordered a dump truck full for the driveway.  They called earlier than expected so I had to rush out there and tell the dump truck where to dump.  In my next post I will show you fascinating photos of gravel.  I know you can hardly wait!

Temporary Link

I got a reply from my Century Link email and they said they would send someone out today. That was awfully nice of them to fulfill my request and not argue or transfer me somewhere else or try to upsell me on services. Bright and early my phone rings this morning. I almost didn't answer but then remembered that the service man was coming today. He said he would be here in 20-30 but I think it was more like 15 minutes.

He looked at the problem and I said that upon further inspection I didn't think the chewed wire was the problem because the wire was actually coming from the outside service to the box not from the box into the house like I first thought. He looked at it and switched some wired around and then said to go try an indoor phone jack. I still didn't get anything and it turns out that not only was the wire chewed (which was the least of the problems), the phone jack in the kitchen was bad, and there is a problem from the alley to my house. He said that he doesn't know how I was getting internet service at all.

He ran a temporary line from the alley through my yard and other repairmen will come back in 45 days to fix the alley problem. They need a backhoe and a digging permit. That's ok with me because he changed out my bad jack so all of my house jacks work and I was able to move my modem out of my bathroom. The modem is in the dining room now which is where my mom's computer is that needs to be hooked to the modem directly.

I mentioned the fiasco I had calling Century Link and he said that the outsourcing contract will expire this year and that even he gets frustrated and will hang up if he gets an outsourced agent.

In other news, I bought a piece of plywood for my nephew's loft bed so that is all taken care of. Now we just need to get it more organized in there. My mom and I spent a lot of time trying to organize and condense the boxes in the living room. We put all of the Christmas ornaments and boxes of family photos behind the couch and I set up my TV and attempted to clean off a portion of the couch so that it is a usable space again. I thought we would have to use the whole living room for storage but it looks like we will be able to use the room after all.

The Last Piece Of The Puzzle

My mom and I are working on setting up my nephew/brother's room. What is a nephew/brother? He is my nephew by blood and my brother because my parents adopted him after my sister passed away. So far my parents and I have been able to live peacefully in the same house (with 5 dogs). On Monday we will add a 12 year old boy to the mix. This should be interesting.

Hopefully it will all work out and they can all stay here until their house in Washington sells and then they will buy their own home. That is the plan anyway. It changes day to day.

Last night I put together the bunk bed that a friend gave me. There were too many pieces and I couldn't figure out how it went together so I just used the pieces that made sense and left the others. I think she actually gave me more than one bed, perhaps the other parts were for a trundle bed of some sort. I bought the futon because I was going to sleep on that and give my parents my queen bed but I ended up getting a full size bed for only $25 so now the futon is extra. I think it works in his room. I am going to get a bookcase from the mobile home and buy a clip on reading light and he can have a reading area under there. We still have to get the rest of the room in order and I need to buy a piece of plywood because that mattress is precariously perched up there with no support. Those chores are planned for Saturday. One of these days I will get back to working on my own projects.