Friday, May 21, 2010

May Has Been A Crazy Month

I apologize for being a lousy blogger. Life, somehow, has managed to get in the way. Life and Facebook...ok I cannot lie. But I have today off and hopefully can fill you in on what has been happening in my world.

So last time I posted...I was excited about selling my house. Well, that deal has fallen through and we are back at square one. I dropped the price of the house significantly to accomodate these people mainly because I wanted to get the sale behind me and move forward with other things, not having that monkey on my back so to speak. Apparently people think that they can get everything for practically nothing and negotiations came to a complete halt. They saw I was willing to work with them so I guess they thought I would just give the house to them. Wrong! I am not desperate, I don't 'need' the money and I am in no hurry. So...that's that. I am hopeful something will happen soon but if not...I can hang on.

Last week was an extremely busy week, starting with Mother's Day. We met George's brother Ray and his family at a restaurant for brunch. It was also Ray's son Kris' 21st birthday so it was a nice surprise for Kris when we all showed up with cards, gifts and balloons.

We celebrated several birthdays during the week. Every 3 days there was a birthday in the family. Thursday we had dinner with George's son Pat and his girlfriend Renee, who were back here in New Hampshire from Colorado. Pat graduated from college on Saturday and he wanted to be here to walk with his classmates. He went to Colorado to do his internship for his Culinary Arts degree and has accepted a full time position there at the Broadmoor Resort. All is well with them and it was great to see them.
So Saturday we had Pat's graduation to go to and then a birthday party for my son-in-law Matt. The graduation was nice...it was outside and Saturday it was a little cold and raw but once the sun poked through, it got nice. The birthday party was also nice, we had a BBQ and I enjoyed the good company. Matt's mother, Marsha and I have become fast friends and it is always nice to talk to her. Here is a pic of us at the birthday party.

Sara also came home Saturday night to spend some time with her new cousins Kris and Keith before the graduation party. Ever since George and I got married, she has gotten really close to them and they have been finding a way to hang out quite a bit on the weekends. My sister-in-law Diane loves having her around their home and always calls her a breath of fresh air. That is so nice to hear and of course I agree. So having Sara here last weekend was a great help. Here is a pic of Keith, Kris and Sara taken during their night out.



Last Sunday, George and I hosted Patrick's graduation party at our house. We had about 35 people here altogether and it was a really nice day. We cooked burgers and dogs on the grill and had all kinds of other yummy foods to share like a veggie platter, cheese crackers, pasta salad, potato salad etc., etc. Nicole made 4 dozen cupcakes and George's ex-wife Donna was very helpful and contributed a lot to make the party a success. During the party we also celebrated 2 other graduates in the family. Kevin, who is George's nephew, graduated last week from Northeastern University and Keith who is also George's nephew, graduated from Southern New Hampshire University. A bunch of smart kids in this family! Here's Pat, a dual degree graduate, one in Culinary Arts and one in Restaurant Business and Management.



Tuesday was my birthday and Thanks to all who sent cards and messages via email, Facebook and blogger. I appreciate it more than you know. We just had a quiet dinner Tuesday night with Pat and Renee, who came over to see us before heading back to Colorado. The rest of the week was fairly quiet and I think this weekend will be a nice relaxing weekend for a change. I need to catch up on a number of things, mostly house related because the only cleaning I did was the essentials you have to clean before having company. And of course, you clean the kitchen and bathroom only to have to do it again after everyone goes home.

George is fine and he has been working a lot of overtime. Hopefully he will be able to relax a bit this weekend since his big project at work has been completed. But I know him and he wants to take advantage of the nice weather and get the flower beds all planted and tended to. He spent an hour or so last night mowing and I am sure he will be right back out there tonight raking and getting ready to mulch. Hopefully when he is finished, I will have some nice pictures to post of his handy work. Until then...here is a pic of George and his daughter Nicole at one of the parties last weekend.


Off I go now to get the laundry put away and I've got some errands to run. Have a wonderful day!

Saturday, May 01, 2010

Sweet And Sour Saturday

Just when you think all your ducks are in a row...something has to come along and knocked their little webbed feet right our from under them. Last Wednesday I got a call from my surgeon...he spotted something in my lab results that made him want to double check my white blood count. He asked me to come in later in the day and have some blood work repeated and made an appointment for me to go in Thursday to talk over the results. After reviewing the results, he has concluded it would not be in my best interest to tackle my surgery at this time. My white blood count levels are just a bit too high which makes him think my body is fighting something, either an infection or some inflammation. Well inflammation wouldn't surprise me since my hip joint and possibly my knee is all screwed up. He likened it to when you have an infected tooth and you need to have it extracted. The oral surgeon won't touch it until all infection is cleared up. If he did indeed operate and the new hip joint became infected...it is a horrible miserable ordeal to remove the prosthesis, then I am laid up in a hospital without a hip until all infection is clear before he can put it back in. Needless to say, neither of us wants that. So here I sit with a batch of new meds while I wait for whatever is going on...to pack up and leave my body. It sucks to be me, believe me. I am so disappointed but I have to accept and believe he is doing this for my own good. The positive thing is he has given me a stronger pain killer to help manage my pain. Unfortunately I can't take them during the day if I am at work because they make me drowsy. But at least I am able to sleep more than 30 minutes at a time at night. So...hang onto those prayers because I will be calling in my marker real soon! :-)

So...the sweet to my sour is that I finally have a very ambitious and potential buyer for my house. It's been on the market for 7 months now and this is the first legitimate and considerable offer I've had. Lots of people have looked at it. Lots of people have expressed great interest. But with the market the way it is...and the fact that it is an older mobile home, people have had a hard time getting financing. The house needs some TLC...a new carpet, some paint and a refurbished bathroom would really make it a very nice home. It is in a great neighborhood and on it's own land and this couple have three little kids who will make use of the nice back yard I have out there. They will also benefit from the $8000 rebate since we signed a purchase and sales agrrement before the deadline and they can use that money to make some cosemetic repairs. They're young and energetic and are very excited. So pending the house inspection, which will take place sometime next week...here's hoping. I am pretty confident that everything is in good shape there. The roof is good, the furnace is only 7 yrs old, I have a new water pump and hot water heater. The stove and fridge are in good shape and I am throwing in the washer and dryer too. The septic tank was in good shape the last time it was cleaned and I know the water isn't contaminated. So the week wasn't a total bust, I guess.

George and Eric are at the house now removing the dog house that once belonged to my Siberian Husky and cleaning up the yard. Eric and Jessie have a lot of bon fires at their house so he is going to take all the wood from the busted and fallen trees from the last wind storm we had, and he wants the picnic table too. The only things left in the house were cleaning supplies and a couple of vaccuum cleaners and a gun cabinet that belonged to my ex husband. He doesn't want it so George is going to bring it back here and we'll put it on EBay or something. I have 20 years of mostly good memories there...I hope this family enjoys living there as much as I did.

I guess I will get to making my grocery list and then it is off to a trip to Wally World when George gets back. I will keep you all posted as to when this stupid hip of mine can be repaired. All I can say, if it doesn't happen soon, I will be utilizing the chain saw that I spotted in the garage. If I can get down the stairs to get it, that is.

Enjoy the day. It is gorgeous here today. Hugs and all that great stuff!