bethk wrote:How can Liam be so old so fast? Just like everything else these days.......But what a little cutie!
I agree, Jimmy. Liam is truly adorable. The kid doesn't take a bad picture! And he's always smiling, the sign of a happy baby for sure, who is smiled AT a lot, too.
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bethk wrote:I'm home. I'M HOME! I'm home in my quiet little house without other people and without constant stuff going on.........I'M HOME!!!
Glad you're back, Beth. You made me laugh here, though, as you sounded like Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz (one of my favorites; I think I can quote every line!).
bethk wrote:I flew out Friday afternoon and, as usual, the flight was delayed by an hour ~ not really that terrible but it sure did make for a fast trip to the first 'Meet & Greet' for Dane's class reunion. There was no time to stop at the house to freshen up, just drive to Buffalo Wild Wings and sit there not knowing a soul as he mingled and got caught up with a few old classmates. I didn't really mind and at least I was able to get some food since I hadn't had anything all day.
We have a "don't leave me alone too long" rule when we go to these kind of things but it sounded like you deserved to sit still and get something to eat! Flying is exhausting these days, even if everything runs on time.
bethk wrote:On the way home from the 'Meet & Greet' he dropped the plan to have family over on Sunday for a cookout ~ he had already invited 14. This came up before I even had a chance to survey the condition of the house and think about how food could be prepared in the short time frame. What a nightmare! But, when I got up Saturday morning I had formulated a plan in my head and I greeted him with, "You know the rule ~ if you invite them, YOU clean!" The house wasn't awful, just lived in. But the old rule stands and I have to say, he did do his fair share of whipping the place into shape. He hadn't thought about people being IN the house (like maybe they might want to use the bathroom......DUH!) He's been there 3 weeks doing maintenance, most recently repairing the stucco on the garage. Guess what the bathroom sink condition was.....AAAArrrrrrrggggggghhhhh! But it all got taken care of. Poor Jake got called into the ranks and he wasn't really happy but he was a real trooper. I just ignored his comments the same as I ignored his mother's comments when she was 14. Hahahahaha
After the house work was taken care of we all went to the store. It was HIS party and no way was I going to let him get out of grocery detail!
LOVE your rule about you invite them, you clean! We have the same kind of rule around here, but Brian rarely did that great a job when I invoked the rule, so I'd end up sounding like Attila the Shrew to get him to go over it again or listen to me fuss while I went over his work. He's making up for it now, though -- he does tons of stuff around the house, a lot more than I do. But then again, I did most of that stuff for over 30 years, though he always helped more than most men ever did. My girlfriends and the chicks at work were always jealous that Brian actually helped me at all, as their husbands really didn't do much of anything around the house.
bethk wrote:Needless to say, by the time we went to the Class Reunion, I was pooped! But it was a lovely evening and everyone was nice. We had a good time and, more importantly, since I hadn't remembered to eat because I was 'ruling the roost' and ordering everyone around with cleaning house, the food was excellent! They had a buffet with beef tips & noodles, fried chicken, some sort of fish (had a great sauce) and a bunch of side dishes. By the time we got home I just fell into bed and slept like a baby.
Sunday morning I got up and started on the food for the cookout. We had slider burgers, casing hot dogs, pulled pork sliders, cole slaw, potato salad (store made), baked beans (Bush's), chips and a bowl of cherries & berries for dessert. We ended up with 10 so Robin & Ben have a dozen sliders and half a dozen hot dogs in the freezer for another meal, as well as leftovers for the week.
I was never so happy for a rest as when I had to leave for the airport at 9:15 Monday morning. My friend, Barb, picked me up and we had a nice drive home, stopped for lunch at a little German restaurant in Sanford, FL (near the airport). It was so good to open the door to my house! And it was even better to fall into MY bed last night.
Sounds like you whipped everything into shape and got that menu pulled together just as fast as you and Lyn do for one of her shindigs, Beth. You're awfully good at that. Sounds like a good time was had by all.
Glad you had a good time at the reunion, Beth. Helps when everyone is nice and REALLY helps when the food is good, too! Not surprised at how good getting home was, as it certainly wasn't a restful trip, was it? It ALWAYS feels so good to get home and sleep in ones own bed -- no matter how much we enjoyed going away on vacation, we were always tickled to get home, especially when bedtime rolled around that first night!
bethk wrote:I had a message when I got home from my neighbor, Jeanie (the lady who does the 'Ladies' Friday Morning Movie & Lunch' with me). She and her husband, Kermit, have moved here full time. They got in late Friday with some of their furniture they wanted to keep from their house in Minnesota. She said if I still wanted her leather couch it was available, as well as the matching recliner. What a deal she made for it! But getting everything ready to get MY couch & recliner moved out and her's moved in has kept me busy for most of the day. I won't go into details (too boring) but suffice to say I've been cleaning most of the day since the furniture is being moved around. I didn't think it was all that dirty until I started pushing the couch & chairs around the room. WHERE does all that dust come from???? ((sigh))
Congrats on your sofa deal, B. Did you take the matching recliner as well? What color is the leather? If this work on our house is ever finished, and I'm still alive when I pay it all off (started out paying cash but the price grew and grew with the problems we've encountered once they start peeling layers off a 100+ year old house that someone else renovated, I applied for a credit line which we close on this Friday; nice low rate of 3.75% so it beat taking money out of our 401(k)s which would mean paying taxes on the money), I want to buy new furniture for our living room. I could get some recovered but one sofa was already recovered once and I want to get rid of that one, and the other one and a big chair and a half I bought when we got this house 19 years ago! My taste has changed a bit and I want a more modern style sofa that's a bit less imposing than the last one. Might keep the chair and a half for the other side of the room and get that recovered. Since we will pay off our house in just TWO MORE MONTHS (yeah!!!!), I should be able to put those funds (minus the escrowed money which I have to save for taxes and insurance that we'll now be paying in January and August) towards the repairs we've just made. So hopefully it won't take too long until I can buy some new furniture. Takes me FOREVER to decide on what I want but I've been thinking of it for several years now so I think I know what pieces I want -- just have to settle on colors for the new sofa and a print for two of the swivel upholstered chairs I want.
What do you plan on doing to your place when you sell your house in OH, Beth? Anything you're already thinking of? It's nice you've lived in your place in FL for a while, as it helps you make decisions about what you really want to do instead of acting too fast and regretting it later.
Will try to put together a message for all of you as to what has gone wrong since the "peeling away" of some of our house began. One thing after another though we did have some very good luck along the way (I keep telling myself that).
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