Gloomy Wednesday

[Shirlv]

Morning All, Rained all night and gloom and drizzle today. That’s ok because today I wash the slider. I am the worlds worse window washer and hope the damp day will help. I ask my children to not even think about Mother’s Day. I thought about it and ordered truffles from Lindt. Doesn’t the ad of that young woman eating a chocolate truffle make you want to grab it out of her hand. Fixing my favorite salmon cakes for Sunday dinner and truffles for dessert along with a ration of wine. Don’t want to go the liquor store and have my epitaph read she died getting a box of wine. On second thought bet my son would hoist a box up to the balcony. Just kidding. Be safe and plan your own special day.

[BirdbyBird]

Any good son would do that for Mother's Day at least!

[Acadianmom]

Shirl, you can call your bucket on a rope your "dumbwaiter". lol I told my son we were cancelling mother's day this year.

The vet said I could pick up Sugar at 4:00. I am going to bring Annie for a shot for her allergy before she is a hairless wonder. I was mowing the dog yard with the push mower and got into fire ants twice. It rained about a half an inch last night so the ants are on top of ground.

It's only noon and I'm pooped. It's hard to see the numbers on the rain gauge so I brought it in and painted the numbers with a paint pen. My neighbor said it doesn't last so we will see. Then I mowed and got the weed eaters out. I have two. The one I like the most works and doesn't work. I think it quits if it get hot. The other one is heavy and makes my back hurt if I use it very long. I need to mix up a batch of Roundup and spray where I can't mow. There is a spray that I have for the water weeds at the pond. I keep forgetting to mix some of that. I don't want those weed to get out of hand again.

Martha

[Shirlv]

Martha, since I am the one pulling the rope up, I don’t think I want to call it a DUMBwaiter.

[BarbaraRose]

Martha, maybe if you put a coat of clear nail polish over the marker on the rain gauge, that will keep it from coming off. Glad to hear Sugar is coming home today! Give him a hug for me!

Today and tomorrow are supposed to hit 110* here before "cooling" off some. Average temps here are supposed to be in the upper 80's, so we are way above normal for this time of year. I hope that isn't an indication of the summer heat coming!

I have a bowl of cut up juicy strawberries and nothing to put them on. Haven't heard from my neighbor about them going to WM and picking up a cheesecake for me yet. May have to try them on the Key Lime pie and see if that works!

I decided to make a little gourd mouse to go with the gourd cat. I ordered some tiny gourds and got those yesterday and found one that will work. Need to figure out how to make ears and a tail for him and then will paint him. Hopefully, I will get the cat face mold soon so I can get him done.

Forgot to call yesterday about getting someone to take care of the fire ants. My bites still itch and burn! Been putting hydrocortisone on them which helps. I scratched them in my sleep and broke open the blisters tho.

I had a dream last night that I got in a big argument with my family, but I sure told them off!

I need to get back to my autobiography. If I work on it just an hour or two each day, I would make good progress on it.

Got an email from the State of CA Cosmetology Board yesterday saying that if anyone begins working before the guidelines are lifted, they could loose their license. No worries about me doing that! I am putting my extra money aside so I have something to live on if I decide not to go back to work right away after the shop opens, if I don't feel safe doing so.

Have a good day!

[JudyJB]

Remember my infamous aunt and uncle? Well, we have made a lot of progress this year by selling their two condos in Venice, Florida--one in July and one in March. We now have an offer on their big home in the northeastern Georgia mountains. It is only about half of what they spent when they built it, but they really, really overbuilt both for that area and for their lifestyle. What couple with no children needs a 6,500 sq ft house on three acres with four full baths, two half-baths, and five bedrooms, not counting the maid's quarters?? (Never had a maid or had anyone stay in that area.) The three properties have been leaking money for years with taxes, HOA fees, repairs, utilities, etc. And this place is in a gated community where there is no way a school bus could go up their steep, narrow, private roads!! So, even though it would be ideal for a big family, it is just not practical for someone with kids becuase you would have to drive them to school each day and pick them up. Plus ice on mountain roads is no fun at all.

We want some tweaks to be made to the offer, but I think it will go through. So, instead of heading north from Knoxville, I headed south back to Georgia today. The place is full of personal and family stuff, stuff that needs to be donated, and stuff thta needs to be tossed, and guess who has to sort through it????? I have a couple of potential helpers who have been in quarantine, and we will just toss bagged up junk onto the front porch for someone to cart away. Except, I think first thing is to get all the stuff we want to get out of it and put it in storage for a while--photos, artwork, lots of figurines and fancy stuff no one really wants these days, etc. Realtor says if I can get stuff off walls and personal stuff removed, she will have a crew come in and take it all to charity.

So, here I am for the next week. I am already worn out from the drive here through the mountains--narrow and winding roads were tiring. Mostly went 35-40 MPH and still a ton of manhandling motorhome. probably go to bed early tonight.

[BarbaraRose]

Judy, sounds like a lot of work for you coming up, but at least it will finally be done! How did they come into so much money?

Well, I decided to go back to WM but I got some stuff for strawberry shortcake instead of the cheesecake pie because I figured if I bought it, my neighbor would buy one before I had a chance to tell her not to, and end up with two of them!
I also got some much needed shorts and a couple tops to match. Most of my shorts don't fit me now so I needed new ones.

Got my box of bigger gourds delivered today. I got ones already cut and cleaned so I don't have to mess with that. They were on sale so I got a good deal on them.

There was a terrible incident that happened out here this morning. Don't have all the details but sounds like a possible domestic/custody dispute that happened. The guy assaulted a woman in town here and then took off with a child in the car and drove up the mountain. Close to the top of the mountain, the car drove off the edge and fell 200 feet below. The child died and the guy is in the hospital. So tragic! Should know more tonight or tomorrow. The road that goes over the mountain has been closed almost all day. It is the only way over the mountain to the coast. Otherwise you have to drive to LA or San Diego to get there which are both way out of the way. I have driven that road many times. It is beautiful but very dangerous.

Anyways, gotta get back to doing something here...

[JudyJB]

He was a college professor, so did not make a ton of money, but she inherited some from her father and then ran her own business for many years. The business is where she got most of the money, but when you travel the world (Australia, Japan, Europe, Hong Kong, Greece, several European cruises, etc) and always go first class, plus you spend $1 million on building your dream house, while you already own two Florida condos, the money goes fast. Oh, and besides SS, he had a full Air Force pension and one from the State of Georgia for teaching for 30+ years at Georgia Tech.

Depending on how long she lives, there will be some left over for us and her brother and sister to inherit, but nobody will get rich. We will be lucky at least to get something someday. They were paying all the expenses for three homes for the past 10-15 years and living in only one. The beach condo was rented for three months a year, but at half what everyone else in the building was charging, and not enough to get anywhere near close to paying the bills on it. We made money only on the beach condo that they had owned for 25 years, but will lose a lot of money, like 50% on this house in the mountains. And he had taken out loans on two of the properties, which we have paid off.

And they were both very very careful about spending on day-to-day things, and not having kids saved them a lot of money, as we all can guess. She also reused ziplock bags and aluminum foil, plus did a lot of other cheap things. I think they had not bought any clothes for ten years. They kept two cars over 20 years each, and I know they had one couch recovered at least three times!

[Bethers]

Martha, since I am the one pulling the rope up, I don’t think I want to call it a DUMBwaiter.

Shirl, this requires a spew alert.

[Acadianmom]

Hallelujah, they brought my trash bin. So glad to get the trash out of the house.

Barbie, good idea about putting clear nail polish on the paint but I don't have any. Maybe I can remember to get some the next time I go to town. It's a shame about the child. Some people just go crazy when they separate.

Judy, I know you will be glad to get rid of all the property. Cleaning the house out sounds like a lot of work. I helped a friend clean out her Aunt's house after one of the hurricanes. Her Aunt had 60 years of junk. I don't think she ever threw anything away. The closets were full of Walmart sale clothes that had never been worn. I'm afraid they will say the same thing about my house. I seldom buy any clothes but some of the stuff I wear all the time probably should go in the trash.

Martha

[snowball]

don't envy you with your task ahead of you Judi but just think when these all are done with then hopefully your task is through... I dread when my mom goes for obvious reasons but also the let's hang on to it we may need it... my dad died in 1973 I am willing to bet that there are still clothes of his there... and her second husband in what 199 something can't remember... know that there are still some of his and mom only has clothes in three closets... at one time she collected decorative plates that hang on the wall... she has a lot of them even some under the bed that were never hung.. yep it's going to be fun...
it's been really windy today so bad that some of the highways were closed for a brown out..
today is my 2nd born birthday they are getting old so we had cake and dip for dessert tonight so good... it's been a sugar high day!!!
one of my bins with bird feeders in it blew away I looked but didn't see it and admittedly I didn't look hard as I was coming in from taking Shadow out I think I saw the bin will look tomorrow who knows were the lid will be..
when I went up to the house this morning to see what kind of cake dd wanted I left Shadow on his leash outside yard is fenced in right??? so finally went out fully expecting to see Shadow by the back door he wasn't and I thought that is good he is out exploring but now I have to look for him... and it's windy when I see him on the other side of the fence don't know where he got out at but he was glad to see me (he looked like he was trying to find a way into the yard)... glad he didn't go far though
so not much was done.. perhaps I can report more done tomorrow...
sheila