I've been working hard

TROUBLEnTX wrote to suggest that I just go ahead and pull out all the carpeting now, rather than wait until I can put the new flooring in. I wasn't quite sure what the subfloor would be like, or what even lay under the rug. I pulled up a bit of it and saw that under a foam pad in very good condition (at least from the small section I examined) there is a solid looking wood floor. I also received an email from my son suggesting I pull it all up at once.

The biggest problem I can see is what to do with the old stuff. I can get a small dumpster brought to my driveway and picked up and taken away, but according to the rules of what can and cannot be dumped, there seems to be a 40# limit. I don't know if that is 40# per item or total weight of load. Forty pounds isn't a whole lot, so it must mean per item. That wouldn't be a problem as we could cut large sections of carpet into small.

Now my son and I are moaning the fact that we both sold our pickup trucks - he had an F-150, and of course I had my F-350. I think my youngest son can borrow his father-in-law's truck so we can get it all hauled away. Joe has to work on Sunday so we're hoping he can pull it up on Saturday. I feel bad about having to move the furniture, and if I'm watching his 2 little girls I won't be right there to help him.

Steve will be here on Sunday and has agreed to install a new kitchen faucet, bathroom faucet, tear out the garbage disposal that doesn't work, install some replacement electrical outlets (half the outlets don't work), and things like that. I haven't had a disposal for years and don't want to be bothered with one. That will give me more room under the sink for supplies. The dishwasher needs a "catch" to be able to close the door and use it, and maybe we can find one at Home Depot. I would like to have a dishwasher.

This is a shot of the kitchen, and of course it is about as cluttered as all the rooms. I've really emptied lots of boxes today and hope to get a few more done tomorrow. I work like a young person in the morning, but after lunch I have to hit the couch!

The trouble will come when I'm looking for something and can't remember where I've put it. I'm going to store my clothes in both bedrooms, so in addition to a chest of drawers I will have lots of closet and drawer space. I really need to come up with a plan for organizing what will go where, or I'll always be searching for something.



The walls have been painted previously, so providing I can get the grease off the walls and cabinets, it should be fairly easy to paint. I'm going to do a contrasting color on the cabinet fronts.

Eventually I am going to replace the awful gas range with an electric. Yvonne told me that there is a 220 connection at the stove. There is no end to the improvements I want to make, but it will take time and money.

Even the little things . . .

. . . make me worn out. Today I painted the insides of a couple of closets and they look much brighter. I can start hanging up my clothes and putting things away in drawers, at least in the non-smoking room. It's getting a little better, and I think when we finally get the grubby carpet up it will improve 500%.

I cooked a superb meal tonight - in fact the past 3 nights. I'm determined to increase my protein intake as well as calories, so it's been fish and/or chicken, with organic sauteed greens, and boiled red potatos smothered in cheddar. I put a box of Klondike bars into my shopping cart the other day. Couldn't bring myself to read the ingredients, but now and then is ok I figure. I've only had one so far - I ate too much dinner to even want to think about dessert.

One of the commenters to yesterday's blog asked me if my granddaughter began to bark (after sampling Lady's food). She hasn't done that, although she does beg for treats.

Speaking of dogs, I want to call attention to the fact that PBS's NOVA will be airing "Dogs Decoded" tonight. Check your local listings for time and channel. Here is a quick description of some of what the program will be about:

"Dogs Decoded" reveals the science behind the remarkable bond between humans and their dogs and investigates new discoveries in genetics that are illuminating the origin of dogs—with surprising implications for the evolution of human culture. Other research is proving what dog lovers have suspected all along: Dogs have an uncanny ability to read and respond to human emotions. Humans, in turn, respond to dogs with the same hormone responsible for bonding mothers to their babies. How did this incredible relationship between humans and dogs come to be? And how can dogs, so closely related to fearsome wild wolves, behave so differently?"

One bright spot in the last 24 hours

I stayed overnight at Jeannie's last night. I was really on edge the whole evening, so Jeannie got out a couple of word games with tiles (and proceeded to beat the socks off me). Donald appeared in the room looking somewhat panicky, and asked what do I feed Lady. I told him it was an organic product - he had walked into the laundry room where Lady stays and caught the 2 yr old helping herself to some dog food pellets!

The reason for his concern is that Arianna has so many food allergies, and can't have wheat or dairy products at all. I was able to assure him that there was no corn, wheat, eggs, or dairy products in the food, and that it was actually quite nutritious! I'm not sure about the nutrition from a 2 yr old standpoint, but I guess it didn't hurt her. I've been giggling about it all day. I was so glad I hadn't added any wet food to the dish.

No surgery today

I met with the eye surgeon this morning and was told there was a malfunction in some of the equipment they used so my surgery will have to be rescheduled. I'm sort of relieved, as I never had the anticipation and positive attitude that I had with the first transplant. Something was different, and I thought it was just my worrying about my heart. So now I'm waiting to hear when it will be rescheduled.

My concern is that to get me in sooner than just waiting at the end of the list, it will require me to have the surgery done at Mercy General Hospital, rather than the small surgery center. I don't like big hospitals and worry that I will come away with something much worse than what I went in with. Also, most of you understand what intake is like in a big hospital - I'll be sitting waiting for hours to get past the front desk I'm afraid. Maybe not.

So I'm back to unloading boxes.

See ya in a few days

I spent the day opening boxes and pulling things out I had a place for. I ended up with several empty boxes so I guess I made some headway. I went out this morning and spent a horrendous amount of money replenishing staples and other food, and I don't have half of what I need. I think I'm down to about zero on this month's money!

I don't have to worry about that because I won't be doing much shopping for a while after surgery (Tues. 10/11). I'm getting my hair cut really short tomorrow and will then go to Jeannie's where I will be spending the next couple of nights. I figure I should be able to come home Wednesday or Thursday.

If I ever move again, and I surely hope I won't, I will have a cleaning service come in and do a thorough cleaning job. That is where I'm getting hung up - every time I start filling a new cabinet I have to first clean the shelves. It would have been nice to have the time to do it all before moving in, but there was simply too much to do. I also wanted to get my belongings out of storage so I don't have that monthly bill any more, so this is how it ended up. To top it off I won't be able to get the painting finished for quite a while - my bedroom was what concerned me most and now it is done except for the flooring.

I cancelled the carpet cleaning which is a relief. I can't imagine having it done right now while things are so upside down.

I mentioned watching RFD-TV in my last blog, and for you city dwellers RFD stands for Rural Free Delivery, so the programming has a countrified slant. It covers the whole country and Saturday night I watched a program from Michigan featuring a polka band and polka dancing. The participants were all ages, even teen-aged boys! My 4 yr old granddaughter was here, and she who sings along with Lady Gaga like she was recording the songs herself, began to tap her feet to the polka beat. She wanted her little sister to dance with her, but the 2 yr old is in the terrible two stage and doesn't do anything you want her to (mostly), so Grandma danced with Autumn. Now I wasn't swinging around a dance floor, but the little dancing I was doing plumb wore me out! Looking at the old geezers on TV made me wonder how they get that kind of stamina. There is very little break between numbers, so the band as well as the dancers get a real work-out. So did Grandma. The show reminded me of about 39 years ago when we went to a Polish wedding in Port Huron, MI, as the music was the same. I never learned to polka in the Eastern European style, but danced polka mostly with Italians. It's happy music however you look at it.

I'll be back online in a few days, and in the meantime I won't be able to read or comment on any blogs. I won't even take my computer with me.

I should sleep well tonight

I am surrounded by boxes that need emptying and a couple of items of furniture that need to be rearranged, but I'm happy to have my comfy bed set up. It is a queen size bed, and takes up a lot of the room. I'll be happy with the bed, a chest of drawers, and a nice table next to the bed - no room for much else.

I've decided to cancel the carpet cleaning service. Since I'll definitely have to put something else down in my bedroom, and plan to eventually extend it throughout the house, I decided to apply the cost of carpet cleaning to the cost of laminate flooring. My son has agreed to come over next week to measure for me and go to look at Pergo and price it out, select a grade and color, etc. Donald and Joe will put it down for me, and I'm comfortable with that because Joe and Sarah did their entire house a few years back.

I have to really be thankful for my son-in-law, Donald. He went with me to pick up the truck, drove it to and from storage, and moved just about everything himself. I carried a few items, but for the most part he wouldn't let me do any work. He got everything in the truck so we only had to make one trip, and then he moved most of it into the house. Jeannie came along and helped with the boxes and putting things away in the kitchen. The entire house is still a mess with boxes and items everywhere, but eventually it will all come together. There is a lot I can do even a couple of days after surgery, as long as I don't lift anything heavy.

I've found that just about the only good thing on TV is RFD-TV, recommended by Dizzy-Dick. I thought I'd be able to get the National Geographic channel, but get a message that I haven't subscribed to that channel. I called DirecTV and found I could have Nat Geo for $5 a month extra. I think I'm paying enough for the few channels I watch, but I'm finding a lot to like about RFD-TV - not all of it, but a lot.

When I feel like trying, I will modify the Guide so that I don't have to scroll through hundreds of stations I can't even view as well as the ones I will never want to view.

No pictures tonight, but maybe when I get my act together and my house in order.

Still no carpet cleaner

His luck is about as bad as mine lately. I wrote about his encounter with wasps, and the next morning he was supposed to be here early. His son works with him, and the van he was driving was hit by another car. The son is ok, but the driver of the car that slammed into him was taken to the hospital. The van suffered more damages than originally thought, so I've been on the short end of all this. The cleaner called me today and offered to try to get here late this afternoon; if he can't make it then he will clean the carpets at the same rate quoted, but will move the furniture. It would be so much easier and quicker when the rooms are empty, but I have no control over the situation.

There is much more work to do here than I originally thought. Everything in the kitchen is covered with a greasy, sticky film, and I am trying everything I know of to remove it. There are some cabinets that are ok on the inside, although the doors are all tacky and I hate even touching them. I'll probably use a small sander and sand it off before painting. I bought shelf liner and lined enough cabinets to provide me with a place to put at least the most important things away. I haven't used contact paper in years because I always ended up getting wrapped in it. It hasn't changed! I have seven overhead cabinets cleaned and available, 8 large drawers and 4 small drawers cleaned, plus a couple of large cabinets I haven't yet decided what to put in them.

I also bought lace panels and curtain rods for the bedroom window. There were vertical blinds at that window and they are stained orange with nicotine. Needless to say I plan to toss them. The big job will be to figure out how to remove the large screen and take it outside to wash it, then to wash the windows inside and out. I can't put nice curtains up on dirty windows or my mother would come out of the grave to admonish me! She was a fanatic when it came to clean windows and while I'm not so fanatical, I come pretty close.

I've been freezing in the mornings and evenings, so yesterday I retrieved my small heater and some warm clothes from storage. What a wonder it is to sit in front of that little heater!

When Lady and I go out the back gate we head to the north (left) in the morning, and to the south (right) towards US 50 freeway in the afternoon. After one day she knows which way to turn without my prompting her.


My house is behind the fence about 5 down on the left.


Although the freeway is less than a mile from my house, I hear no traffic noise, nor do I hear it from Sunrise Blvd. at the park entrance.


Across the trail is a light industry/business park:


This is one end of the bedroom. I intended to paint the drawers and doors on the closets, but it will be difficult for me to remove and re-hang the doors, so I thought I might just leave it like this. Any comments? Does it look too ridiculous to even consider? I can do it later when I'm feeling better and less tired I suppose.