Still no pictures but got a lot done!!!

Sorry, I keep forgetting to take the camera downstairs to take a picture of the floor in the bedroom.  So just keep looking and I will get it down there.

Rob is back at home in Alaska.  He will be home for a while but in April he and Kate will be at two workshops, back to back for Tai Chi out on the west coast, they will then fly home for a short period and then head to Europe for a River Cruise with my other son, Brian and their father and his wife.  I think it is the Rhine River and they will also be taking some time in what used to be Czechoslovakia and is now the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Their father is an American born Czech as his parents were both born there.  They used to drive me crazy when they would come visit... they would speak Czech when they were making remarks I was not to understand.

Rob and I got lots of things done.  He helped Danny replace the strap on the snow plow.  He assisted with the floor project in his bedroom.  Before Danny and Darren came, Rob & I took boxes of stuff out of the room.  We dismantled the large L-shaped computer desk that has lived in the room. We had everything out of the room except the bed and the old file cabinet.

Danny and Darren and I worked on the flooring with Rob helping carry materials downstairs and taking things upstairs.  The floor looks wonderful... I promise, pictures soon.  I am no putting anything back in the room until I paint the walls.... and then I will go through all of the boxes and NOTHING goes back in unless it is something I will be using or might need.

Rob finished securing the electrical work that he did last time he was here by mounting and sealing the boxes that are outside.  He walked all around the yard and picked up a full trash bag full of trash/junk that had blown into the yard over the winter.  He helped get all of the construction trash upstairs and outside for the garbage men to pick up on Wednesday.

Thursday we took a break and rode to Wilmington.  I had gotten a call about an item that was being held for me at Stony Brook Sew and Vac in Wilmington.  In 2007 I had gone to the old store for a Floriani Seminar and bought some embroidery software that I wanted to use in the business.  I never did get the time to look at it and just relied on what I had been using from Husqvarna Viking.  Stony Brook had called late last fall to say they had something I had ordered, but since I had not ordered anything I thought they had a wrong number.  When they called this past week they said it was software and it was free.  I looked it up online and it was an entirely new, full blown digitizing and management system for embroidery, being sold for anywhere from $3,000.00 to $3,500.00. I figured it was worth the drive.  And sure enough, the Floriani company had found the people they contracted to do the original software to be faulty and not willing to fix things without lots more money.  So Floriani hired their own  people internally, totally reworked the software and actually gave it to all of the clients who had purchased the old software.  There is a 222 page users manual and I am hoping to figure it out how to use it more.  So I am guessing that the trip and two plus housrs in the car was well worth going.  Rob enjoyed seeing the area that he grew up in for the first 6 years of his life.  He remembered quite a bit more than I expected him to remember.  Perhaps it is just because there are parts of that time that I would prefer to forget.

Rob and I finally got the trim piece up on the ugly wall.... that is now one of my favorite walls in the house.  I now have to finish painting in the dining room, too.  So there is a bit of painting happening in my future.  Our final task, after sharing dinner with my friend, Sheila, was to try to identify the circuits in my electrical panel.  I had the service upgraded when I had central air installed a couple of years ago.  The electrician had marked a few things but not that many.  New items had been marked as they were added, but there were many things not marked.  We managed to find all but 2.  I am guessing that the 2 will be single things or add things but I will find them eventually.  I am marking all of the items that should be able to run with the generator in yellow labels and the ones that cannot be run on the generator in white.  It will keep me from blowing up my generator.

So. Rob headed to New Jersey Thursday morning to pick up his wife, Kate and head back home.  He was excited to get back home as the temperature in Fairbanks was finally going to be above freezing!  Yesterday was 47 degrees there.

I cannot tell all of you how wonderful it is to have Rob willing to come out and take care of the things his Mom needs,  We have created a shared document on Google so I can add things to the list as I find the need and can move them to the done list so Rob can see how much is getting done.  I also find the list helpful so I can remember what things need to be done and not just sit around doing nothing.  It has been four years since Rudy died and while I think I am doing well and I am.... I am still feeling the effects of his death and still making small steps in finding my way without him.

I am grateful for all of the people who have helped me with over the last four years.  I do not know how I would have gotten this far without you all.... you know who you are.  I love you all!