Done, done, done, done.....

Finished…..

Let me tell you about the definition of a really good friend.  A really good friend is there for you when you ask and is there for you before you have to ask.  I am so very fortunate to have such friends.

For the past many weeks, I have traveled the road from home to Indian Acres.  I was going through 20 years of ‘stuff’ that was collected at our weekend/summer home in Maryland.  After my husband passed away almost two years ago, I made the decision to sell the place.  In this depressed real estate market, I thought it would take quite a while to sell.  I was in the situation where if I sold it that was great and if I did not sell it right away, that would be OK, too.  So I found a buyer and they worked through the summer to get their money together and so I have had to begin sorting through and transferring things to the house in Pennsylvania.

It began slowly, before the folks had their money, but once they had the cash in hand, I began moving things in earnest.  I was assuming that buying an entirely second house that they would want to have most of the furniture.  I was wrong, so not only did I have to find places for my ‘stuff’, I also needed to find a home for most of the furniture.  All they wanted was the dining room set.

Again, my true friends helped me out.  They were able to find homes for all of the furniture.  And any day I wanted to be in Maryland, they were there beside me.  They packed and sorted and packed and loaded and moved things and were there on days I could not.  They kept me motivated when I was ready to stop and walk away. 

Today my good friends were there for me again….

Following church one of my BFFs, Debby, came to the house and we hopped into the truck, arriving at Indian Acres a little before 2:00 PM.  We were ready to begin going through the final closets and get as much as we could in the truck.  Danny and Marji were already there when we arrived.  They had been there since 9:00 AM.  EVERYTHING was in bags and boxes in the middle of the living room floor.  All we had to do was load it into my truck, lock up the doors and never look back.  We would have been on the road much earlier, but Marji, Debby and I kept talking.  We finally headed out around 3:30 PM. 

I did take pictures before I left.  I cannot believe that I am finally done. 

I can never begin to repay these people for their tireless efforts on my behalf.  And these people do not expect repayment.  They did it because we are friends and that is what friends do for other friends.  I am so blessed to have such lovely, warm and caring people in my life.

For those of you who knew what the place looked like before, here is what it looks like now.

Almost Finished....

Almost finished…..

I am in between the holidays that fall at the end of the year.  Christmas has come and gone, all gifts have been distributed and the end of 2012 is just around the corner.  And 2013 is ahead with all of the hope and promise of better things.

Yesterday I spent the day at the Indian Acres property.  On the way to the house I stopped by the law offices of Scott & Scott in Elkton, Md. to drop off the signed and notarized paperwork to finalize the sale.  Judy, the lovely lady who has been doing the paperwork to make the sale happen, is just waiting on the papers and check from the buyers and it is then finished.  I am hoping that it will be over soon.

I headed on down to Indian Acres to begin the final push to get the house cleared out.  Danny & Marji had been there the day before and moved out dressers and other pieces of furniture.  They arrived shortly after I got the first couple of bags packed and into the truck.  About an hour later my niece, Nancy, and her son, Steven, arrived and everyone went to work.  Marji packed up my sewing cabinet.  Nancy & Steven finished emptying the kitchen cabinets before hitting the medicine cabinet.  I got the remaining stuff in the master bedroom and got it vacuumed.  All that is left is the closet.  I then turned to the little bedroom.  Tore the computer apart and unloaded the trophy shelves.  All the while, Danny is outside clearing out what was left in the sheds.  By 3:00 PM, we were tired, my truck was packed to the hilt, Danny’s truck was packed and the little trailer had all of the remaining pieces of furniture loaded.  All that remains in the house was a couple of folding chairs and the dining room set which is staying with the house.  I think one more good push and I can lock the door for the last time.  Then the task will be going through the boxes and bags of stuff here to find homes for it in this house or find homes for it elsewhere.  But it is at the point that I could walk away and not feel badly about what is being left behind for the buyers to clean up.  The important stuff has been removed.  And the buyers know I am on my own and said they would happily handle anything that I could not move.  I think they would be pleased to see so little remaining.  But I will get it all out and run a vacuum so all they have to do is shampoo the carpets and move stuff in.

It was also a good day for one of my BFFs.  She has had a rotten year.  After a relationship of 20+ years crumbled and having to move in with her daughter, she finally found a cute studio apartment that she feels she can afford on her own.  Her vetting process went well and she will sign a lease after the New Year.  I have not seen her this excited in a long, long time and I am so very happy for her.  I think that 2013 is going to be a good year for everyone.

Today was the first significant snowfall in the area.  We were on an edge and it could have gone in either direction of rain or snow.  The snow started a little after 11:00 AM and it snowed consistently all day long, leaving a bit over 4” for the event.  My friends all came over.  Debby was here to assist me in unloading the pickup truck so I can start sorting through my ‘stuff’.  Danny & Marji appeared, too.  Danny and I got the snow plow out of the garage and got it hooked up on the truck.  I have been putting that off since I was using the truck to haul things, but I needed it on the truck now so I can plow as it falls the remainder of the winter.  All of us worked to get the ‘stuff’ either in the house, on the deck or in the garage.  Danny ran the plow so I have a clear driveway for tomorrow and I made Reuben's for everyone for lunch.  So, I am now ready for winter snows.

I will be driving the truck to Maryland tomorrow after church.  I have not taken the truck out with the plow any farther than the gas station with the plow on, but I need to get the move finished, so the truck and plow will head to Indian Acres.  I am hoping that this is the last time I will make that run for a long, long time.

And tonight… for the first time in years… I took a bath.  It may not seem like much to most people, but the old water had corroded the stopper so badly that the tub would not hold water.  I had the water people replace all of the hardware in the bathroom, including the stopper, so tonight I soaked in my tub.  It was W O N D E R F U L !!!!!!!

Come and Gone...

Christmas, come and gone…..

I know… Christmas in 2012 is nothing but stress.  Back in the day, I am sure that my Mother probably felt the same way, but she made it look so effortless from the eyes of her children, that I cannot imagine that she went through a 10^th of what a modern day person does.  Things were done in an orderly fashion, Christmas cards with personal notes inside went out early in the month, shopping and wrapping were done without hassles, house decorated, tree up around her birthday so we could enjoy it for several weeks, goodies baked and stored, house cleaned to the grandparents could come and spend the week and food for the many feasts purchased and prepared for gourmet meals.  I credit most of that to her use of multiple lists that she lived by daily for as long as I can remember.  I have lists, too.  My problem is that I tend to leave them at home and always forget at least one of the things I really, really needed.

This year it was double stress as I am also trying to get the Maryland house cleaned out by year end so I can put that chapter of my life behind me and move forward into my new life.  So when Brian arrived from Minneapolis on Saturday the house was cluttered, no food for the holidays had been bought and I was tired and fairly grumpy.  Once he arrived, I almost felt like curling up in a ball to do nothing as it was such a relief to have someone else to pitch in and help.  I am hoping that I did not over-stretch his helpfulness.  I want him to come back next year.

We planned the meals for the short time he was here and he did most of the cooking.  He really likes making things from scratch and it certainly did make for some wonderful food during his visit.  The first day we had Rueben’s.  The next day we had meatloaf.  I made the meatloaf and he created a wonderful Potatoes Au Gratin using all fresh ingredients.  Christmas Eve, our meal was lasagna, garlic bread, brussel sprouts with bacon, tossed salad and a cranberry salad.  Brian made the ricotta cheese from scratch, his own noodles and baked the Italian bread.  He also did the veggie and it was all wonderful.

My brother and his family joined us for the afternoon and evening of Christmas Eve, a family tradition for many, many years.  We laughed and talked and my brother and nephews set up a couple of web cams that will broadcast me in my house to them via the internet so if I am not heard from in a while, someone can look in and see if I am OK.  It snowed while we were visiting and they had to drive back to Yardley with snow on the ground, but the roads were clear, so it was not a dangerous evening for them.  He lives in Fredericksburg, VA and I am hoping that we can visit a little more often.  He is my only sibling.  He will be retiring soon, he says, so it would be nice to spend some time together.

Brian left Christmas morning to go visit with his father in New Jersey, another tradition.  I was supposed  to go with a dear friend of mine to visit her family on Christmas Day, but she picked up a vicious stomach bug that had her bedridden, so I was home alone.  I am finding that I am going to be alone for holidays as my late husband’s family, who are local, are finding other, new holiday traditions that do not include their uncle’s widow.  Not a surprise, it was something that I expected to happen in time.  And I did have plans, they just fell through.  Fortunately, I enjoy peace and quiet, so I used the time to de-stress, get some things put away and relax.

Today, I am still fussing with the web cams.  There are still some glitches in the broadcasting so I am QAing the setup.  My brother is also monitoring the cameras and offering suggestions as to things I can try.  I am getting the dining room set up again for sewing.  I have many projects to do, including a Mystery Quilt project that will happen on New Year’s Eve.  It snowed again today.  The grassy surfaces were covered in the fluffy white stuff but then, in our area, the snow turned over to rain.  So now the white coating is gone, the temperatures are hovering around freezing and the Police/Fire scanner is coming alive with accidents and power outages.  I am quite happy to be safe and sound in my house.

I have decided to do a daily journal in 2013, just for fun.  I will do my best to post everyday my weather and compare that to what was ‘forecast’ in the Old Farmer’s Almanac.  I think it will be interesting to see how accurate the OFA actually is in their guessing a daily weather pattern.

 

Life happens…..

Well, it has been quite a while since I posted.  There just has not been a great deal to post.  I have been trying to get my house in Maryland cleared out so the new owners can take possession by the end of the year.  It is an arduous process, going down there for several hours, going through my ‘stuff’, throwing some junk out, packing the good ‘stuff’ up and then coming home to do it in reverse.  I bring in the good ‘stuff’, figure out where it is going to live in my house, sort through the ‘stuff’ that was already here and get rid of the junk so the good ‘stuff’ can find a new home.  My inside back porch is rapidly filling up with the ‘stuff’ that still needs a home, but I keep going back down before everything has a new home.

The family who are taking the furniture have come down and removed a great many of the larger pieces of furniture.  It really is looking very, very sad.  I have really never seen the space finished without furniture.  I have pictures of the unfinished rooms with the furniture that is currently being moved, so this will be the first time that it will be totally empty.  It will be odd to see everything gone!

It is still a physically draining time.  It is also emotionally draining as I go through all of the wonderful memories that happened there.  There are days, after a trip to Indian Acres when I just seem to be unable to move.  I guess it is my way of trying to deal with the underlying pain of the changes that are happening, but I do find that those days are shorter and I will be much happier once it is all done.

And I am not always alone.  There are days that Marji and Danny will come in and help me.  They will go through cabinets, pack the ‘stuff’ into bags and boxes and get it loaded into the truck.  I do not know where I would be if it were not for them.  I would certainly be a lot more behind than I am ahead now.  I owe them so much… more than I will ever be able to repay them.  But that is what friends do for each other….

I did get out to dinner last night.  I went to the Dutchway Buffet for the Parkesburg Lions Club Christmas Party.  They also had another event and I cannot tell you what it was called, I am a newbie Lion so I have to still learn the lingo, but there were awards given out to many for the past year of service.  Then we had a gift exchange.  It was a fun evening and the food was, as usual, very good.

I am now trying to get ready for Brian to arrive.  He will get here sometime on Saturday.  Since he started a new job recently, he will not have a great deal of time to spend, but I am looking forward to seeing him.  My brother, Andy, and his family will be here Christmas Eve and then I will be spending Christmas Day with my friend Sheila and her family in Maryland.  So, I will be busier and busier as the week goes on.  I will post along the way!!!  In the meantime, Merry Christmas to all of you!

Better Water, easy on the system….

I have lived in this little house for 30+ years.  My water has been supplied by well and aside from the occasional pressure tank replacement or well pump, we have used the water just as it came from the ground.  The water is hard and I am learning, also high in acidity.  We replaced several hot water heaters, and faucets over the years as the water would eat away and deposit gunk and minerals throughout anything that used the water.

I finally decided that I needed to take some steps to make my water better for me.  I do not have the plumbing skills that my late husband did.  I never had to worry about anything plumbing.  He could do it all.   Shortly after he died, the pressure tank died, but I had people around who could fix it for me.  Then the well pump died and I found Tri-County Water Services to replace it for me and restructure the system to make it easier for me to deal with. 

The fixtures in the bathroom were old and pitted.  I could not take a bath as the stopper would not close.  The spout was covered with deposits and it was stuck on shower.  When it turned off, there was a tiny, little drip that turned the tub side a brown or green stain.  The chrome on the sink fixture was pitted and the water came out in odd patterns as there was stuff in the screen, but I could not get the aerator off to clean the screen. 

So I called Tri-County and they arrived yesterday to add a water neutralizer system and a water softening system to my house.  They also were going to replace all of the fixtures in the bathroom.

Arriving at 8:30 AM Dan Hershey, followed later by an assistant, worked until early afternoon.  He placed the new tanks alongside the pressure tank, it was almost as if the basement had been designed for the equipment.  There are many new and interesting pipe runs.  My cold water is being treated immediately.  The hot water will take longer as the softened water will replace the old water more slowly in the heater.

The tanks fit like they were made for the space.

The maze of pipes that will treat my water before I can use it.

The bathroom is wonderful.  The fixtures are all bright and shiny. They also all work!!!  I can once again take a bath if I want to, turn the shower on and off and the sink also is in perfect working order.  And with the new system, they should stay working well for many years!!!

Additional border…

Today, I have people in working on some plumbing.  These are the same folks, from Tri-County Water Services who replaced my well pump.  I have always had hard water at the house.  Dan Hershey, who co-owns the company with his son Brent, also said I have very high PH levels which area wells are known to have, so I needed not only a water softening system, but a water neutralizer as well.  So they are here improving my water quality, replacing some faucets that were getting really bad so that my pipes, faucets and water heaters will last longer and the deposits of minerals and the like will not line up and cake in my tub, sinks and washer.

I took advantage of the time that they were here and I could not go anywhere to add a border to the black and white strip quilt I had made at the quilting retreat in November.  I had decided that a little border of a lime green would look nice against the black and white.  I found a material that was the green I was looking for and the design on the green was black and white.  Then I added a black and white border onto the green.  Once it is quilted, I will see whether a small green border or a black and white border will look best.

Here is how it looked when I got back from retreat.

Here it is today.  I think it looks really nice.

Wind and Christmas Decorations…

I live across from an open field facing west.  On normally windy days, the direction of the wind comes from the west or northwest and hits the front of my little house head on.

My lovely Christmas Present Topiary enjoyed several days with little or no wind.  Last night, things got blustery.  When I put Molly out for her morning pee, this is what I saw!!

The glue was not strong enough to withstand all of the strength of Mother Nature.  It tried.  Very hard.  Inspecting the base… which remained in its place thanks to the tent stakes, those same tent stakes were pulled a couple of inches up before the wrapping paper tore on the bottom box allowing the boxes to be moved from the front of the house to the back, where they are resting against my neighbors fence.  I will retrieve them, shortly.

I will be heading to Indian Acres tomorrow and will bring home the dowels that are in the corner of the sewing area and will redo the display with a bit more of a windproof structure.  Live and learn!

Why do I bother….?

First, I hate housework.  I would love to have a housekeeper who would come in weekly or even bi-weekly and vacuum, dust, clean toilets, sinks and tubs.  My mother, in her later years, had people who came in from time to time to do that.  And her house always looked neat and fairly tidy.  What I did not understand was that the day before the ladies were to come clean, we all had to clean up our rooms and help Mom do the same in the common areas.  We cleaned so they could clean… silly!

This morning, as I was cleaning up dishes and after a night of putting things away, I realized I was doing a similar behavior.  This afternoon two of my BFF’s are coming for a sleep-over/sew-a-thon.  If you are a regular reader you know that I am in the process of bringing item home from my Maryland house which I am in the process of selling.  So I have stuff everywhere.  And I have been overwhelmed from time to time to where I could not move, so I did not.

So last night and today, I am putting things away and preparing to run the vacuum.  But why??  Have you ever seen creative sewers/quilters working?  There are small scraps of fabric and thread flying in every direction.  So, in a short period of time everything will be in chaos and covered with sewing waste.  And yet, I cleaned up so we could be messy.

My mother would be so happy!!

Finished Decorating…..

First, hot glue on bare skin burns….

Second, hot glue outside in sub 40 degree temps cools fast….

But I managed to get things decorated.  It is a delightful show.  No lights, so I will have the outside porch lights on to illuminate, but I think it is quite festive.

What about you???

Decorating for the holidays…..

The first holiday after Rudy died, I did not feel much like decorating.  I am not even sure if I did any decorating.  2011 is really a blur in many ways after February.

But I must be moving forward in life, as I have decided to do a little more creative decorating than I have in years.  And I will credit one of those days when I could not move out of my recliner.  I am a TV person.  From early in the morning until late at night, there is generally a television on in my house.  My Dad loved the technology from the moment it became available and he watched constantly whenever he could.  I am guessing he passed that on to my brother and me as we are both TV people.  My nephews are  pretty much TV people, too and my kids can be at times, so the legacy lives.

I have started watching the Hallmark Channel’s ‘Home and Family’ show.  It is a variety type show that broadcasts live from inside a real house in California.  They interview interesting people, they cook and they do many different, crafty things.  This week they made a Christmas ‘topiary’ from wrapped boxes.  It seemed easy and very attractive. 

I was out shopping yesterday and found a lovely plastic pot that would make a really nice base for the topiary and it was not expensive.  So I wandered there and then hit WalMart for the things needed to wrap and put the boxes together.  I then hit the UPS store for three assorted sizes of cube boxes.  Last night I stated wrapping and playing with the stacking of the boxes.  The base is decorated and already outside.  I used tent pegs to anchor it to the ground so it will not blow away.  I have used the glue gun and door stop wedges, per instructions, to create an inviting display and will glue the stack to the pot shortly.  I think it will look lovely.  I have no idea how it will survive rain or snow, but it is only 25 days until Christmas, so I have my fingers crossed.

Here is the stack after it was glued together before I took it outside.  I will post more pics after the total decoration is completed.

Just for me…

I have been very busy, to the point of being overwhelmed, sorting through the things in my life as I close out a significant part of my past life.  Having sold my place in Maryland, I am moving out my possessions and giving away or selling the remainder.  I currently have boxes and bags everywhere in my home that need to find homes here and, quite honestly, I am mentally and physically tired.  So yesterday and today I am taking a break and doing things for ME!!!!

In early November I attended a quilting retreat and had made several different quilt tops.  One of them was a series of 10 different colored sets of blocks.  I had gotten jelly rolls that contained different colored patterns and ended up with 10 sets of blocks in different patterns and colors.  I was not able to get them sewn together at the retreat as I needed access to my design wall to play with the organization of the blocks.  Yesterday I played with blocks.

I had started placing the individual blocks in a pattern that highlighted just the colors.  I did not have the entire quilt top on the wall that way, but I was not all that happy with the design.  So I left it on the wall so I could let the design grow on me.  I was still not excited about the design.  I reorganized the blocks into 10 large sections of the same patterns.  In doing that, a different pattern emerges.  I think I like it better, but it will live on my wall for a few days until I see how I feel about this one.  There is a picture below…. What do you think???

The entire quilt top

Closeup of one side

Closeup of the other side

Giving Back…..

Monday night I took a step towards paying back for some of the wonderful things that I have been able to utilize to help me move forward through the loss I have felt since the death of my husband in 2011.  And I am so thankful that I am going to be able to give back and perhaps help someone else to begin to take steps forward through their grief.

This past January, I found an ad in the paper for a group called GriefShare.  I had seen several GriefShare groups in the bulletin boards of the local community paper, but they were meeting on nights that I already had commitments or they were far enough away that I did not want to make the commute with the current cost of gas.  This one was just a five minute drive, at the local Mennonite Church.

I found the faith based support group quite helpful.  It combines videos that have experts in various areas discussing loss and grief and how to handle the things we go through.  I learned that we all grieve differently and at different paces, there is no right or wrong way to grieve.  By the end of the 13 weekly sessions, I felt more positive about things and more interested in things around me and more adventurous to try new and different things.

Since I have been going to services at that church in recent weeks, I was asked by the leaders of the GriefShare project if I would be interested in assisting with the new set so sessions that they are planning to start in January 2013.  I was honored and pleased to be able to pay back and pay forward at the same time.  We had our first meeting Monday night.  The leaders are happy to have three of us who ‘graduated’ from the first group assisting them.  We may do nothing more than just show up with snacks or we may help lead small discussion groups, but we will be helping.  We will be making a difference in someone’s life.

Life is good.

Looking for things….

I don’t know why, but I always seem to misplace things that I am going to need.  Drive me nuts and you would think by now I would know better… but I still misplace things.

Today I called the law firm in Elkton that was suggested as the place to handle the settlement for the sale of my Maryland property.  I wanted to see how long it might take to get the papers in order so that I know how long I will have to finish moving the things out of the place.  I decided to try to find the paperwork in one place that the attorney might ask for right off the bat.

I first looked in a lock box that I keep under my bed… and there were the deeds to the lots I was selling.  Easy Peasy!  So the only things I needed, besides copies of the tax bills which were in my tax records for this year, would be a copy of Rudy’s will and an original death certificate.  I thought they were tucked away in a small desk when they were not in the lock box, but they were not.  I looked in files under my bed, but all I found were the paperwork for my father and the tax files for my business for 2010.  No I am beginning to panic.  I went through drawers in the living room, looked in book cases and end tables.  I looked in my office and I looked under the desk.  I looked under my cedar chest and in my closet.  I looked on the shelves that go up my attic steps…. Nothing!!!!!  After all the trouble I had getting the right death certificates, I had misplaced them.

I decided that I would take a break from the panic that was growing in my brain and clean out the steps to the attic where I had stored some bins of quilting fabric and projects.  Low and behold, there was a leather bag that I had used to carry records to and from right after Rudy died.  The bag was hidden by the bins.  So I stacked the bins at the top of the basement stairs for their trip to their new home and reached for the bag. 

Yippee!!!  No longer misplaced!!!!  Now I just have to wait for a week to get the ball rolling.  It seems that the attorney who handles settlements for Indian Acres is on vacation this week!  But now, I am ready with the papers.

Another emotional weekend…

Sorry, no pictures from the Friday activities.  Once everyone arrived, we started talking and laughing and some of us even sewed.  But the laughter and giggles, the chatting and stories just were non-stop.  We did stop to eat some homemade chicken noodle soup, but I never even thought about taking a picture until everyone left and then I did the forehead slap thing when I realized I had planned to take some.  But everyone had a good time and Nancy left with three projects that she finished, except for some hand work that had to be done.

Saturday I headed to Maryland.  I packed up a few more things so they are ready to come to Pennsylvania.  The pictures are all off the walls.  I have no idea where they are all going to go, but I will find places for the ones that I really want to save and see if my boys want any of the others.  One day at a time.

Marji, Danny and the DIL, Shelly, had come down from Elkton to join me by mid morning.  Shelly had come with them so she could do a shopping trip through my house.  There were several items that I had to get out of the house that she felt her young family could use, so she came down to look at the items and decide which ones she wants to take home.  It will benefit all of us, as I will not have to worry about moving many of those items and it will make their lives better.  I call that a win/win.

Today I spent the morning at church and then an afternoon cleaning out my glasses cabinet.  I sorted through glassware that I had not used in years.  Some of the really old and thin glasses went out into the trash along with souvenir goblets from dinner theaters and other establishments.  Now I have room for the mugs I brought home yesterday and the wine glasses that I will bring home the next time I go down for a load.

Each time I go through this exercise I end up remembering all kinds of things that have been a part of my past.  In some cases it goes back before Rudy and then there are things that Rudy brought into the relationship that now are a tangible part of his life that I can still hold and see.  It is not easy, especially when I have to let some of the things go so I can keep the things that are most precious.  But, by the time I am finished I will have purged and consolidated my entire life.  Perhaps if I had one it years ago, it would be easier now…. maybe

Black Friday, Alternative….

Good Morning and Happy Black Friday, aka the Day after Thanksgiving.  I have never ventured out on a Black Friday.  I far prefer retail shopping on days when there are not throngs of people grabbing and pushing and, in general, being gruff and mean instead of caring and loving.  There was nothing I needed badly enough to be that silly.

This Black Friday is going to be totally different.  I am having some good friends over at my house for some sewing.  It started out with one of my newer friends from my quilting class wanting to get together and sew.  When my Golden Girls Guild ladies found out I was sewing, they wanted to come too, so besides Nancy, I am expecting Mary, Marji and Debby to join us as well.

I have some chicken noodle soup in the process in the Crockpot, leftover turkey for sandwiches and some cranberry salad, for those who want it.  We will be making table runners, little duffles and tater bags.  It has been quite awhile since I have had a sewing day with friends and I am looking forward to spending the day with good friends.

I am not quite ready, yet.  They are just going to have to ignore the things from Maryland that have not found homes and love me as I am.  And I am sure that they will.  Pictures will follow later today!