For Auld Lang Syne, my dear

Only a few hours left of 2012.

Normally a time to reflect, give thanks, contemplate life's changes.

2013 needs to be a new year in many ways.

I was watching House Hunters international today and a couple were looking at a Paris apartment.  Their budget was 3 million.  That is 3,000,000.  Then ended up paying 4.3 million for an apartment hat had to be renovated.

So Resolution One:  Become a millionaire during 2013.  That means write more articles. finish a book or two, sub more, spend less on coffee and wine, win the lottery.  Of all of those, winning the lottery seems to be the most realistic.

Which leads me to Resolution Two:  Be realistic.  I vow to stop dreaming that Hollywood will discover my in a community theater show and make me the next Wilford Brimley.  That will never happen.  And I won't be discovered doing improv comedy with Exit 99 and we all go on Leno or Letterman.  That won't happen.  I know I can't lose 25 pounds.  That won't happen.

Hence, (I love that word!!),

Resolution Three:  I will become more active physically.  No more playing spider solitaire for three hours on end.  Or reading endless Facebook postings about people having fun with family and friends.  In 2013 I vow to begin a non vigorous workout regimen involving a combination of walking, biking, and other cardio activity.

Resolution Four:  I vow to get back into my dresses.  Yes, you read that right.  Dresses.  When we did Tuna Christmas (or Christmas Tuna, that reversal problem again) I could wear a size 16.  Now I can't quite button it and it can't get any bigger.  Didi and all the others have to be ready in July.

Resolution Five:  I am boxing up my fears and sticking them back into the closet.  I will no longer think that every time someone gets sick I will get sick.  Every headache is not a stroke or  brain tumor.  Every pain in my chest is not a major heart attack.  My kidneys are not developing stones the size of grapefruits.  I will not get black lung disease because I never really worked in a mine and going into the coal mine at the Museum of Science and Industry when  I was 9 and having a freak out reaction because I thought the walls were closing in and the tunnel collapsing does not, in fact, qualify me as a miner.

So, there you have it.  Five resolutions.  From time to time I will write you all about them and how I am doing.  But do me a favor:  Don't Abandon Me!!  I can't accomplish all those by myself.  It takes a village.

So, walk with me....ride with me....buy lotto tickets for me....send me cash contributions...tell Hollywood I would make a wonderful Wilford.

Geez, if this was tomorrow I'd have already broken Resolution Two.

A first Christmas in the new house

It is nearly our first Christmas in the new house.  I think I have said that at least 3 other times in my life, but this will be the last!
We have decorated as best we can.  There is some garland on the outside porch, a live tree in the great room, odds and ends of Christmas on the mantle and throughout the house.
I have carefully assembled my German carousel, which I bought in Germany during one of our forays into Europe.  This has three levels....you light candles and the heat of the candles rises, spinning some fans that turn the three levels.  On one layer there are shepherds, another has Mary, Joseph and the babe and another level has dancing naked ladies.
Just kidding.
I don't have a blue spruce to trim this year,which means I have 19 strands of outdoor c-9 bulbs that I will probably end up selling next year.  The blue spruce at our old house was about 30 foot at the tip top, which made it hard to get lights up without using a pole and hook for help.
Anyway, it's about 6 p.m. Christmas Eve and I am sipping eggnog while thinking about Christmases past.
I always have a hard time "getting in the spirit."  I've read A Christmas Carol, have It's A Wonderful Life ready to go in the DVR.  All the presents are bought and not yet wrapped, but it is early.
Presents.
I always give something different.  Fire extinguishers to the girls.  A 4 pound rutabaga to a girl in high school...although she was Jewish and it wasn't technically a Christmas present, but  her birthday was pretty close to the date and it seemed like an a good present at the time.  Slippers that double as dust mops.
The first present I remember buying on my own with my own money was a hair dryer I got my mother.  I was probably 12 or 13.  I went to Wieboldts Department Store at Lincoln, Belmont and Ashland in Chicago and picked it out myself.  It must have been 1960...or 61.  I used the money I earned on my paper route to buy this blue thing that you could hold in your hand or stand on a wooden stick.  I thought it was the most amazing, modern, coolest device ever created.
My parents would take me downtown to Fields, Carson, The Fair....and I would revel in the wonder of the season.  The incense burning log cabins on sale at Woolworth's, the monorail that ran along the ceiling at The Fair.  The wonderful windows of Marshall Field's and Carson's.  The huge tree in the Walnut Room.
I didn't get downtown this year, and I don't think I made it last year  either.  I miss the windows, the German market, the bustle and the hustle of the season.
I miss the people who created the memories that formed, or malformed, me.
It's almost Christmas in the new house.
I (and Jackie) truly wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
May all your gifts be joyful, and your memories fond.
And now for some pictures.

My carousel...waiting to be lit

Can't believe I killed the plant.....but I still have not thrown it out!

This was a 12 foot tree in the field

A gas fireplace is actually pretty nice!

Fuzzy, but you get the idea

1 down, 192 to go

Wow.  We have been in the house one month!  If I live here until I am 80. that's only 192 months until I move into a smaller unit.
I have discovered a lot in the one month.
First off, you never have enough electrical outlets.  We have added one extra outlet in the yellow room and made a two plugger a four plugger in the bedroom.  We have a lot to plug in!
Second thing I have learned... we have a lot of Christmas stuff.  I had help lugging over  plastic tubs of trimmings and I believe I counted 22.  Not to mention the odds and ends that don't fit into tubs, and we have a lot of those too!
In some cases we didn't have enough.  Roping, for instance.  Someone decided the front porch would look nice draped in garland.  But the stuff we bought in '08 is no longer made, so the fine folks in China produced another, similar, mock pine that we bought and put up.  Imagine my surprise when I found out the male and female plugs were ON THE SAME ENDS!!  Who the freak makes something that you can't link together?
When you think of it, Chinese made Christmas decorations have to be strange.  China doesn't seem to share a Christian ethic, and I can see hundreds of these godless people painting smiles and dimples on the little lord Jesus prior to packing him in plastic and sending him to us, where we pay exorbitant prices for items made by people earning less than a Starbucks a day in some dingy, dark, dangerous warehouse.  Wonder what they are thinking when they assemble the burping Santas, farting reindeer, singing wisemen and other holiday have to haves.  But I digress.
Decorations.
In some cases we had too many.  We had lots of door knob hangers.  We now have levers.
We usually have two trees.  This year we only have a live (that's a misnomer for sure) tree.  Emily and I cut it down at a local tree farm.  It was 12 feet tall, but we only cut the top 9 feet because that looked best.  Then I cut it down to 6 feet when we got home, because the ceilings are 8 footers and I did not want to green mark the ceiling the first year.
The tree has a double stem.  Did not notice that.  There's a big hole on the left side.  Did not notice that.
It's crooked.  Did not notice that either.
But with lights and ornaments, it looks great.
Third bit of knowledge:  dark wood floors show every bit of dust and every footprint.  We dust the floor at least twice a day, more often if she cooks.
Fourth bit:  You can't just hang a cuckoo clock.  It needs its own place.  Still looking.  I miss that hourly reminder that I am getting older fast.
Fifth:  You can't build a house and add as many extra things as I did and not have to take out a mortgage.  We are ok as long as Illinois keeps its pension payments coming.  Or at least next February.
Sixth:  Ikea stuff is a lot easier to assemble than stuff from Home Depot.  I swear, I am never buying a product from China again.
JCP, which is what JC Penney is calling itself these days, has a towel series called Home.  Some of them are made in the US!!  However, its America line is made in ...... well, not China but Pakistan or India.  Go figure.
I will be taking pictures of the final ... ok, semi final, product and share them in my next post.
If I can find the camera.

Locked doors, geckos and a near encouter with a Famous Person

I used to think I was a pretty smart person.  Then we moved.
The new house has doors that stay locked unless you flip a little lever.  I don't seem to remember this.  Locked myself out of the garage once, but the car was open so I used the garage door opener.  Locked myself out of the house a second time, but Jackie quickly answered the door.
So it was with frosted bated (baited?  never could figure that out) breath that I closed the front door just as she was getting in the shower.
I could not get back in.  Front door locked, car locked, garage door locked.  And me with no key (or clue).  I was in a shirt and it was cold.  Very cold.  I rang the bell.  No answer.  I knew she would be in the shower for at least 10 minutes, if not longer.  Then the hair dryer would go on and she still wouldn't hear me.
So I broke into my own house.
I knew a basement window was unlocked.  I walked around the house, pushed the window up, climbed down through the bottom half of the window and made my way upstairs.
I can't do that anymore, since one of the guys came out and adjusted the window so it locks.
Guess I'll have to go to Moore's and buy a fake rock to hide a spare key.
I did that at the Skare Court house.  I actually put a key in a pill bottle and buried it in the dirt in the breezeway.  When the day finally came when I was locked out, I dug all over and never found the damn thing.
Today at the zoo I took out Uno, a leopard gecko, for kids and guests to look at and gently pet.  I had the little fellow out for about 15 minutes.  Now I have taken geckos out before, but what Uno did was a first for me.
His little body suddenly tensed up.  His breathing accelerated and his tail began twitching up and down rapidly.  He looked like he was about ready to leap off of my hand.
Then he pooped.
Gecko poop is about three quarters of an inch long and the diameter of a large pipe cleaner.  It smells.  Really.  Old Uno let loose with a righteous one!  When I have guinea pigs out I always keep them on a towel for that very purpose.  But a gecko?
I washed my hands for 10 minutes, and used a hand sanitizer.  Can you say salmonella????
Seeing as I was near Oak Brook, I stopped to buy a new pair of shoes. Why?  Well, Cooper the great dane ate one of my everyday shoes, leaving me with one shoe and two feet.
I have been buying a brand named Ecco for the past six years.  They are the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn.
All of this has nothing to do with the story.  Just sayin'.
So I am walking through Oak Brook and pass a store called Pandora.  There is a huge line in front, with three security guards.  There must have been 100 people waiting to get into the store.  I kept walking and ran (literally...his star damn nearly poked out my eye) into another officer and asked him what time the sale started and it must be a good one to draw such a crowd.
Turns out it was a person in the store drawing the crowd.
One gold medal gymnast named Aly Raisman, who was signing autographs and posing for pictures with people because she is now the "face" of Pandora jewelry.
So I turned around and went back to the store, put my nose against the glass, and gawked.  (The French call it window licking.... not window shopping.  I may have been licking.)
She's a tiny thing, and very pretty.  And very young.
She smiled at me.  Or at the person standing in front of her, but I really think it was me.
So I went home with my new shoes, my gecko poop trauma, and my new almost met a famous person experience.
And the best part?
I wasn't locked out.

I still don't get it.

Whew!!  I am tired!!  I have spent part of the day putting away boxes of stuff.  I did find some interesting items:
I have a box of vacuum clean bags and belts.  Bags for Hoover, Eureka, maybe another one or two.  Trouble is, we have a bagless vacuum!!  Now I moved these bags from our house, to the townhouse, to the new house....three times!!  I still can't seem to just toss them!!
I saved the Nov. 5 1993 special section of the Chicago Tribune that profiled the Bulls without Michael Jordan.  Again, I have moved this three times!!
Can't find the rocks for Jackie's paperwhites.  I know they are here somewhere.
Moved two coffee pots..... don't drink coffee.  And there are two boxes of coffee filters.  Usually I offer people coffee when they are visiting.  But most people have had my coffee and prefer to just sip turpentine out of a glass bottle.  Just sayin', I don't do coffee very well.
Spent 14 days looking for the clips to hold the shelves up in our white IKEA cabinet that we put the Santas and nutcrackers in.  Discovered today the clips are still in the cabinet and I have been looking for something not missing.
Found a really nice Chicago Bulls shirt.... size Large...that I can't wear and don't ever remember buying.
And a Disney sweatshirt...size medium.  Thinking maybe Julia had that at one time.

Discovered I have 27 wooden pants hangers and 6 pairs of hanging pants.  Figure I can rotate the hangers and never wear them out.
I threw out a bunch of wooden clothes pins and went to the zoo, only to learn they are looking for wooden clothespins for a craft project.  I had about 200.  Saved them for at least 10 years and the day after I toss them someone needs them.  Go figure.
Learned that my Grandfather Kohler was a fireman on the Chicago Northwestern Railway and he used to tell my mother and her sisters about crossing the plains and seeing the herds of buffalo.  He met Sitting Bull also.  Never knew that when he was alive.
So, if you are looking for a free Bulls shirt, or Disney sweatshirt, or some vacuum bags.... let me know and you can have them.
As for the rest of the day?  Guess I'll just settle back and wait until my winning numbers are drawn in the huge Powerball game tonight.
Maybe have a glass of wine in celebration/to ease the pain.

The Bulls' shirt

Wonder who likes Mickey??

thanksgivings

I am taking the time to assess life.  And offering Thanksgivings.
I am thankful that we went with the wider single garage doors.  Unfortunately, they are not wide enough for some people.
I am thankful that Julia celebrates a birthday tomorrow in Switzerland.  Unfortunately, she will not be with us.
I am thankful banks give out mortgages.  Unfortunately, we need one.
I am thankful Emily has 4 great dogs.  Unfortunately, they poop a lot.
I am thankful our instant on hot water system is providing hot water.  Unfortunately, I had several luke warm showers.  Not a bad thing, mind you.
I am thankful paint scrapes on cars can be buffed out.  Unfortunately, we have to have that done.
I am thankful for udder cream.  Unfortunately, my hands are killing me they are so dry.
I am thankful for friends and families.  No unfortunately about that.
I am thankful for my good health.  Unfortunately, I have some misgivings about that stress test today.
I am thankful for whomever left the peppermint schnapps at my house following the cast party.  Unfortunately, I have some hot chocolate mix and the bottle is now almost empty.
I am thankful for recycling.  Unfortunately, I forgot to put it out, I guess, because my cans are overflowing.
I am thankful for all the former students who still talk to me.  Unfortunately I can't remember their names.  And there are only 3!
I am thankful for laws that allow thespians to marry.
I am thankful the lady at the drivers license office in Oregon asked me, without laughing,  if my weight had changed from the 175 listed on my license.  Unfortunately, it has.
I am thankful I can still function without a diaper.
I am thankful for Jackie.  Seriously, she puts up with a lot from me.
I am thankful for Emily.  She takes care of the old folks in oh so many ways.
I am thankful for Julia.  When she was born the nurse brought her out for me to see.  She was covered with slime and brown stuff with huge red marks on her head and the nurse said, "Isn't she beautiful?"  I thought "Oh god, what a mess! Could you hose her down or something?"  The nurse was right...she was/is beautiful.
She was born on Nov. 22....Thanksgiving.
I am thankful.

Ghost dogs, hums, and trickle down effects

OK, a little of weirdness.
On Friday night, after the show, the cast stopped up at Abraham's for a drink.
I only had one.  You must believe this, or nothing good can come of this story.
I was driving home about 12:30.  (a.m.)  On Flagg Road, just after the cemetery where the road curves, a giant white dog was standing in the westbound lane.
My headlights picked it up and I slowed down, moving into the eastbound lane to avoid hitting it.  The dog was taller than my Honda's front fender.  It had long, white flowing hair and eyes that followed my car as I carefully inched past it.  Its elongated wolf like nose stood out from the fur.
It was a Ghost Dog!!!  Already dead, nothing could kill it!  I need not have worried about hurting it.... its soul was already sold to the highest bidder.
I told the cast about my encounter and they refused to believe.  Maybe it was undercooked potato or bad beef, but they felt there was more gravy train than the grave about Ghost Dog.
Following a fun cast party..... at which no one admitted to seeing Ghost Dog and no one stripped, passed out or puked... Sunday was spent striking the set.
Curt (or Todd...depending) called on his way home at about 2 and reported seeing....Ghost Dog!
Alive, and in some one's yard.
At least he thinks.  I believe Ghost Dog wanders the fields at night, waiting for a soul to scare.  I pray 'tis not me!
My hum seems to be coming from the fridge.  It is noisier in the garage than in the house, and in the hall than in the kitchen.  Must have to do with vibrations.
And the water fall?  Seems to be a discharge from the water filter system.  When the plumbers show up Monday, maybe they can figure out a solution.
Still dusting...still putting away boxes.  We now have 32 boxes of bandages and 4 travel size powders.

Ehh??? What??? What are the words???

Living in a new house is a weird experience.
In the middle of the night I can't find the bathroom.
I don't know what all the light switches do.
There are new angles to learn, sometimes painfully in the dark, and trust me, I have learned a couple.
But it is the noises that are the most vexing.
Everyone knows I have a hearing loss.  I don't hear some sounds well.  The TV is turned up a little higher than normal, conversations get missed, sometimes when Jackie calls I don't hear her. (To be honest, sometimes I do and just don't respond.)
On the second night in the house I became aware of a humming noise.  I stress I, she does not hear it.
It's constant.  To me it sounds like the pump running.
So I went downstairs and listened....no noise.
Went upstairs and ... noise.
I did this several times.  At first I thought a water softener was recharging.  Or the iron removal  thing-a-ma-bob was working.  Or the well pump was pumping.  Or the water heater was firing up.  Nothing was making noise in the basement.
I put my ear to the pipes and on one pipe that comes down to the sewer I can hear water trickling down.... like a small waterfall.  I go upstairs and check each and every faucet and bathroom, but nothing is on.  I ask Jackie if she has used any water in the past 10 minutes and the answer is no.
I return to the basement and listen again.....water trickling down the pipe, like a small waterfall.
In my head (literally) both issues are related.  The trickling and the hum are in someway tied together.  But how?
When I went to bed all I heard was The HUM....... but I did manage to fall asleep.  At around 3, or 5, my eyes were a little blurry, I went back to the basement and listened to the pipe......I could hear water trickling down, like a small waterfall.
Getting back to sleep was hard.  The HUM kept me awake.
Now I have a problem.  Do I call the plumbers and tell them about The HUM and have to admit I was listening to the pipes?
Or do I just bide my time and hope it disappears, or I become used to it.
Maybe I should just teach the house some words.  (Old joke for fifth graders...why do hummingbirds hum?  They don't know the words.)
And those of you who know me understand how my imagination and insufferably optimistic outlook combine to create multiple scenarios where the house is destroyed, damaged, rendered unfit for habitation, or in some other way results in a disaster of unmitigated proportions.
And through it all, The HUM will survive.

Home sweet home!

OK..to answer all the endless questions:
Yes, we are in our new house.
No, not everything is done.
Yes, the move went well.
Yes, opening night of the play was a success.
No, I am not disappointed by the election results.
 In no particular order:
I moved the last piece of crap at about 4:15 today, not that my bicycle is crap.  I have a problem.  It will not hurt the world to throw stuff out and it may improve the world if I/we stop buying more stuff.  I packed at least 11 candles.  Most of them have not been burned.  Emily is having a candle party.  Mom was invited.  Here is my version of the conversation.  Figure out who is talking.
Are you going to order any candles.
Candles, candles, we don't need any more stinkin candles.
I may order some.
We never burn the ones we have.
Why don't you burn your candles?
I'm afraid it'll start a fire.
And of course I packed at least 11 cakes or bars of scented soap.  Make any wisecracks you want, they are mine!  I have soap for a lifetime!!
As we were packing up the kitchen stuff she handed me a bundt type pan and said, "I never use this and don't want it, so throw it out."
My response:  I'll save it for a garage sale next spring.
It's a disease, I swear.  And my children seem to have inherited it.
After the final garage sale ever last fall, I vowed never to have another.  Here I go.
And no, not everything is done.  Some minor trimming, front porch stuff, a little staining of the downstairs windows....nothing major.
Part of being me is being cheap.  Not smart cheap, cheap cheap.  So when I looked at the allowance for shelving, I said, "Hey, my brother in law can help me do this for half that."  We worked on it for one day, ran out of materials, he went on vacation, we moved and bingo....still no closet shelving.
I did not consider that a problem until it came to putting food into the non existing pantry because the shelves are sitting in the garage waiting to be cut.  And the towels are in boxes because there are no shelves in the three (3!!!!) linen closets.  And the winter coats are laying on the floor because I have not cut the pole in the two weeks I have bought it for the hall closet.
If I hadn't been so cheap I'd be able to find a towel.
Finally, the play was a hoot.  We had an opening night crowd that was ready to laugh and we were ready to make them laugh.  If you live in the area, come see "A Dickens of a Christmas Carol."
You'll be happy it is a cheap night out and no shelves are required.

silence is golden

This may be the last post for a few days.
Wednesday morning, 7 a.m.....actually, I believe that was a Simon and Garfunkel album, but I digress.
Wednesday morning, 7 a.m...... the movers will be a knockin' at our door.  They will take our furniture and some boxes and head west toward Emily's.  There they will pick up the rest of the furniture and the snow blower and haul it all to our new house at 10105 Shagbark Ln.
I/We are not ready.
The closets are not done because I opted to do them.  We will be stacking towels and clothes on the floor.  Probably.  With luck, our master bedroom closet will be done and we can hang  some stuff.
We have a lot of clothes.  I have a lot of clothes.  I have t shirts to wear outside while working in the yard, t shirts to wear while painting, t-shirts to wear while sleeping and t-shirts to wear.  That's a lot of t-shirts.  And there are regular shirts, sweatshirts, pants.......shoes.....all the stuff that has to go that we won't have a place to put right away.  Of course, someone suggested I maybe don't need all of those shirts, but during the summer I can go through 2 or 3 shirts a day...more if I eat.
Putting up shades and curtains will be on the agenda for next week.  If people are that desperate to see old people in their underwear, well it'll serve them right to look!
It was like a three ring circus in the house today.  Appliance installers came; two of them in two trucks. Two plumbers....in two trucks.  Two painters...in two trucks.  Me.  Jackie in her car.  Three crew guys in three trucks.  Seriously, there were about 11 people working in the house at the same time!  I tried to hide in the closet to stay out of everybody's way, but it was impossible not to bump into someone.
And none of them were bothered.  The plumbers worked around the appliance guys, who worked around the trim guys who worked around the painters, who worked around the plumbers.....it was really like watching a finely tuned clock only it was utterly chaotic.
For someone with a little ADD, like me, it was fascinating because I could see so many things happening at the same time!
They all shared tools....how everyone keeps track of their own gear is beyond my comprehension.
I/we left at about 12:30 and I did not go back at night so I will be interested to see all that was accomplished today.
Now for some pictures.

Mantle is taking shape

The newly redesigned columns fit much better

pump, iron filter, heater, water softener....

Weow!!

So...what is new?
How about the new, redesigned, much more appropriate columns?
Or the beams in the ceiling?
Carpeting?  Trim? The shower?
The shower.  Let me briefly describe the shower.  We picked out some tiles for the shower.  We looked at some accent tiles which would give a little character to the shower.  We ordered the tile.  The tile came.  Monday:  Terry T was putting up the tile when I asked, "Where are you putting the accent pieces?"  To which he replied, "What accent pieces?"
I called Jackie...did we pick out accent pieces?  Answer...we talked about them.  Called salesman Brian....did we pick out accent pieces?  Answer....you talked about them.  But you never ordered them.
So I ordered them.  Terry T said he needed them ASAP as he wanted to finish the shower.  Salesman Brian said I could pick them up in Wood Dale Tuesday afternoon.
So I drive to Wood Dale, which is near O'Hare, pick up the tile and say....crap, this isn't what I wanted.
Called Jackie.  She said it was.  Brought tile home.  Tile installed Wednesday.  Shower looks good.
Lesson:  Double check orders.  Double check deliveries.  Double check everything.
Wish we had done that with the posts!!
Still some trim to go, a little work on plumbing, closets, staining windows....but the majority of the work is done.  Floors get a final coat Friday, movers get our furniture Wednesday.
The journey is almost over.
Now for some pictures;

Going downstairs

the basement room for me ... out of money for carpet!!

new columns

dining room with chair rail

accent strip on shower wall

family room

Is that a kitchen counter I see??

Counter top is in and almost all installed.  If I do say so myself, we made a good choice.  Jackie isn't sold on the sink, but since I seem to do most of the dishes, tough noogies.
All the kitchen cabinets are installed.  Everything seems to be in the right place and the right height.
Trim is getting put up left and right and all the windows are done, which means Dane will come in and stain and coat the sashes and sills.
New pillars are being made for the great room, and the porch pillars are getting assembled for installation this week also.
We are only 1 trillion over budget.  Jackie (who does drive me nuts with buying stuff) is working on another list of stuff to buy.
Stuff....for example, curtain rods.  We need to hang curtains.  We need rods.
Mirrors for the bathrooms.
Selecting towel holders and racks for the bedrooms.
Blinds.
Curtains.
Towels.
Hand towels.
How in the hell is the economy still tanked??  We are propping it up buy (pun intended) ourselves!!!  Let's go fellow Americans, spend, spend, spend!!
Here's how I function.  Buy shelving for closets.  (We do have an allowance for shelving, but someone decided he wanted a "system" for the master bedroom and blew the allowance on that.  Now he has to compensate for that expense.)
Step one:  measure.  Write it down in notebook.  Spend 20 minutes the next day looking for notebook.  Give up search and remeasure, writing everything down in notebook 2.  Misplace notebook 2, but find it before measuring for the fourth time.  Go to store.  Buy shelving.
Return half the shelving because we don't need as much of that size.   Buy more shelving of a different width.  Find out what I returned is some that we need.  Go back to buy more shelving.  Discover the shelving I want is empty because somebody bought all of it only to return half of it and that half hasn't been restocked to the right bin.
Buy coffee and ponder life.

master bathroom floor is done

hall bath just needs fixtures

staging are for all the cutting

the boss waiting for appliances

trim is almost done.....chair rail to come

washer and dryer are in place

cabinets with counter waiting for stove top

There's big and there's really big!!

Let me begin by saying I know numbers.
Jackie and I both looked at the specs for our living room columns and agreed that was exactly what we wanted.
Drawings showed the sizes, shapes, taper, and all were exactly what we wanted.
The columns came Thursday and they are big, really big.
Or as Daughter said;  "Holy shit!!  Those are huge!"
We have three of them....each two foot square.  they are a little out of proportion to the rest of the room.  When all three are arranged in a row it gives the family room a fortified look.  Not a lot of space to move around them either.
At first we thought we could live with two of them....but the more we thought, the more we decided no.
So the columns get redone......to a smaller size.
Trim is going up.  I wanted rosettes in the corners of the windows.  Jackie was not sure.  But they are getting put in place and I think they add a lot to the look of the room.
We like the darker trim and we love the columns....but the size is all wrong.
Here's some updates.

The columns are great....just a little big.

vanity going in

rosettes on doors and windows

model of what the pillars outside will look like

A brief update....very brief

Progress was pretty quick today on the kitchen.....
These are the hickory cabinets we selected.  Counter tops to come.
We also have a big announcement......Nov. 7 is the day the moving guys will take our old stuff to the new place.  The downside is they will be here at 7 a.m.......I will probably still be in bed.  Can't seem to get up in time for breakfast and we don't do brunch.
But Emily gets to share in the pain too because most of our stuff is at her house.  After they load up at the rental, they will stop at Emily's and get all the rest of the furniture.  Appliances are set for Oct. 25...so the end must be near!!
So put the Nov. 7 move with the Nov. 10 play opening, and you may sense a little anxiety on my part.  OK, I can't sleep.  I have constant nightmares.  I can't sleep.  Heartburn.  Loss of appetite.  All I want is junk food.  Can't sleep........getting up at 7 for the movers will be a challenge.  Play.  Moving.  Painting.  Sealing the driveways.  Face book, Tuscany villa search, Spider Solitaire......... Maybe I do waste too much time!
Now for some pictures:

bathroom has been a challenge

looks a little like Emily's

lowest cabinet is for the microwave

I think I found a spot for wine glasses

This is an angled end cabinet and doors open on both sides....way cool

piers for the columns are taking shape

who's excited now???

We looked at the first cabinets installed in the kitchen and are pretty darn excited!  They look good, the floors look good, the painting looks good.....in other words, all is good.
Painting......I painted the basement part of the project.  This was the area that was in the three year plan to partially finish.  But it was pointed out that it would be hard to get drywall into the house in a year or so, so why not put the drywall in the basement now and store it for when you need it.
Sounded like a plan.
Another person asked if we really wanted all that dust flying around in a year or two.  Why not put the drywall up now?
So I had a series of questions:
What will it cost to buy drywall for part of the basement?
Answer:  Not much.
Action:  Bought the drywall.
What will it cost to stud out the basement?
Answer:  Not much.
Action:  Stud the basement.
But wait!!! Before you do drywall, you have to put the electricity in.  But by then I stopped asking.
And don't forget heating, taping and priming the drywall..........all those little parts became a whole.
Which brings me to today and why I am sore.  I painted the areas finished in the basement so trim can be put up.  Emily helped, she did the dark gray while I did the light gray.
And the individual parts did not cost much.  But put them all together and it is apparent I am going to have to do some serious subbing!!
But the basement area will be done.  It looks pretty neat now, with trim and carpet it will be a super nice place for me to escape.
Now, for some pictures:

Beginning of the kitchen cabinet instal

It's like a jigsaw puzzle to me

New oven's new home

Pillars on the porch were started Friday

I'm getting stressed

Ok, today was an "interesting" day.
Got a call from the painter.  Dane was running out of paint and had not finished the recoating, and since they are starting trim and cabinets tomorrow, he thought it would be good to get all the painting done.
That was about 11.
Up until then I had had a leisurely paced morning.....cleaned a couple of bathrooms, vacuumed the bedroom, was ready to dust the floors....... but the paint is a priority.  So I put on my socks and shoes and pants and headed to the paint store.
Now, we get our paints in DeKalb.  Don't ask why.  It's a long story that involves paint, cedar siding, and a lack of customer service.  So we buy paint in DeKalb.
Did I mention Jackie has a back shot scheduled for 1:30 in Rockford?
She called the painter and I hit the car...unshaven, unshowered, baseball hat covering the rat's nest on my head.
Pull out of the street and head toward 20th st., figuring that is the fastest way.
Get to 20th St. and there is a funeral procession.  At least 50 cars.  Being respectful, I waited.
After that passed I proceeded on my way.
Now here is the strange thing.  I have gone to DeKalb and hit one light.  I have gone to DeKalb and hit two lights.  Heck, on some trips when I am not in a hurry I have not hit any lights.
Today, in a hurry, I hit every single freaking light.  Flagg Road, 251, Ill. 38, The Wal Mart one, Dement, the 39 ramp, even the damn light at Kish College!!!  And not just hit them, I got to each light as it turned red, which means I went through the whole cycle.
Time was ticking.
Got the paint, headed back....I hit every single freaking light on the way back, (except the Wal Mart light) just in reverse order! Kish, 39, Dement, Caron, 251, even 20th St. was red and there were no cars on 20th st. at Flagg Road.
After dropping off the paint, letting the dogs out, I went home, showered, shaved, had two pieces of cheese and a couple of crackers while I did dishes, then took Jackie to the doctor for her shot.
The rest of the day was easy.....reading night at Tilton, museum board meeting....
It was a little hectic, but I had a large Starbuck's salted caramel mocha (yes honey, I know you call them venti...hell, I'm old....I call it a large) which probably explains why I am not in the least bit tired.  As a matter of fact, I may just finish cleaning house and revising the script for our upcoming show.
And paint the basement.....seal Emily's driveway....finish that novel....
I think I am good to go.

Well, that was futile!

First off, let me state I love the color of the floors.  They are not too dark and I think they will age to a lustrous beauty.
That said.....we put in a red Brazilian cherry accent strip.  A red Brazilian cherry accent strip in a dark wood floor really just sort of blends in.  Maybe someone should have thought of that, but no one did.  It does not have the "pop" we thought it would have, but then, I don't anymore either.
Speaking of that,  darling daughter the pharmacist gave me a pamphlet for a  drug that addresses low testosterone.  Let's see....depression, well, sometimes I do get a little blue.  Lack of energy....yes.  Reduced muscle bulk and strength....well, comes with age.  Increased body fat.....that is a given.  All these are topics my daughter talked to me about.  But she skipped the erectile dysfunction symptom of low testosterone.... how uncomfortable is that for a father daughter conversation!
I will talk to my doctor about a test to see if I am of the low testosterone persuasion.  If I am, maybe I will be able to be a little happier, less tired, maybe thinner.
Who knows, maybe I'll even think I can kick some ass when threatened!
Oh, who am I kidding.....
The driveway is in.  By this weekend it should be able to be driven on.
I think the cabinets and trim are next on the list.
The light at the end of the tunnel is getting bigger!!
And now for some pictures.

Perspective...it isn't as wide as it looks

kitchen looking into nook

family room

Where's Jackie??

Not sure I like the green wall color with the floor.....

Wooden you know

I am a little strange.
So people who saw me going through dumpsters and garbage cans at the new house may be wondering.  But there was a reason.
All of our lighting fixtures were sent in cardboard boxes.  So after they were installed, the boxes got tossed.  I flattened them and recycled them.
Today I was out going through the remnants of the wood floor.  The floor is oak and I told the installers I was going to pull out the trash wood and use for campfires in the back yard.  I will miss an indoor fire, we have a gas fireplace, so I figure I can burn the oak outdoors while watching the stars. Of course I'll be sitting in dirt because the grass won't have enough warm weather to actually grow this year.
So people who know me know that wood will stick around until next fall when there is grass.
That's not my main point.
I checked stats on my last entry and no one from Russia read it, but one person in China visited.
That's not my main point either.  So what is?
Wooden floors.
When I was out there today I saw  the flooring guys had been there on Sunday and prepped the floors so they can be stained Monday morning.
I just hope we like the color.  Sometimes the color looks good on the sample, but not on the wall or floor.   Happened in the bedroom, maybe in the dining room although that jury is still out.  A floor is different.  You can't restain it, can't erase it, just have to live with it.
We'll know tomorrow night if we made the right choice.
And digging through the wood scraps has a price....I have a sliver.  Not a big one, a teeny, tiny one that is in the palm of my hand.  I can feel it....but I can't get it.  It is small, my eyes don't see well, and I can't seem to dig it out.  It's like an itch you can't scratch...keep working on it, but it won't budge.
Maybe it'll feel better sitting around a campfire on a cold, fall night.  Eating S'mores.  Drinking wine.  Talking.  Hopefully not to myself.
Speaking of that, I do tend to talk to myself.  I did not realize how loudly I did that until I was at the zoo and asked myself a question.  Another volunteer heard me and asked if I also answered myself.  Well, I do.  So there.  Getting old has its perks....I don't give a crap about things like that anymore!
But the color of the floors......that's a concern.

Nook area is done

we opted for an accent strip

looking into the family room

the machinery is in place for the driveway pour

We are floored!

Actually, really floored.
The hardwood guys showed up this morning (Friday) and began puttin' wood down.  We went out at about 5 and they had made a lot of progress.  Schedule is to finish Saturday, sand and stain Monday, first coat Wednesday.  Then on Friday or so the cabinets and trim can start to be installed.  Once that is dry, the final coat of finish is applied and some staining of windows and doors is done.
Appliances are scheduled for Oct. 25.....so hopefully all will be ready by then.
We are having a "system" installed in the master bedroom closet, but I am doing the shelving in the remaining closets.  I say I, but brother in law Bob is coming out to help.  Help, hell.....he'll do most of the work while I stand around and offer to get coffee or lunch.  He knows my limits, which are pretty low when it comes to carpentry and DIY projects.
For example, our first house was a bilevel on Southview Drive.  The basement was unfinished, and he came out to help finish the lower level.  We put in a bedroom, family room, and another room that served as a store crap in room.
We (and yes, I mean me too) were building a soffet around heating pipes.  He got it started and all I had to do was nail the peices together.  I bent a nail.  It would not come out.  So I stood on the bottom rung of the ladder, hooked the claw end of the hammer on the bent nail and yanked as hard as I could.
The pain was awful.  At first I thought I broke my nose, then I checked for all my teeth and to be sure I still had lips.  He must have heard the sound of hammer on flesh because all I heard was, "Terr, tell me you didn't hit yourself in the head with the hammer."
I couldn't tell him...I was in too much freaking pain.
My next job was easier.
"Go to the lumber yard and get some more wood," he said.
How much? I asked.
"About 30 minutes worth." he said, and he was right.  Half an hour later I came back and he was done.
I won't tell what I did for the next project in that house,....but I don't think many men accomplished what I did in that basement!
Back to the present......   With the temps falling, it's good the heat works.  Today the water was run into the house, so all that is needed now are some fixtures for the H2O.
We also have the start of a driveway.  Like all males, I don't understand measurements very well.  We were scheduled for a 16 foot wide driveway, but I measured Emily's and it was 20, so we upped ours to 20.  Seems wide now, but it is easier to have unused space than having a need to add in a year or two.
The columns on the front of the house are getting built.  There will be some stone on them, and that may be done next week also.
As you know we are renting, which is why we had another experience that floored us.
We mailed our rent check last Sept. 24.  We got it back yesterday, torn in half, with a letter from the townhouse owner telling us we did not have to pay for October.  Mary and Marvin are on our list of people we are indebted to for their kindness.
Which makes us floored twice in one week.
And now for some excellent pictures:

tarping the dumpster for removal

columns are underway

coming soon....a driveway

the pad was poured Friday morning

Friday morning, 9 a.m.

5 p.m. Friday, work is progressing

kitchen and nook view

Looking into the kitchen