Well we are at the halfway mark for the week, and this time next week it will be the fourth of July, where we will be trying to view fireworks and eating food from cookouts!
I am really looking forward to this weekend. My brother and is family are coming in from upstate New York. My parents are throwing a going away party for him, because he is leaving for Iraq in August, so this will be one of our last opportunities to see him until Christmas of 2008. These darn 15 month deployments stink. This will be his second deployment over to the area. His first was to Afganistan, a few years ago. He truly loves the military and serving our country. Dennis will be 41 in November. He entered the military when he was 17, six months prior to his 18th birthday. He went to West Point, and is currently a Leuitenant Collnel (dang I can't spell that!). He's a battalion commander, with around 1,000 soldiers.
Happy Wednesday, for those of us working, we will be at the halfway mark at lunch time!!!!
It does suck that he is going over for his second tour. My friend Jason is over there now on his 4th tour. And as much as it sucks I know he volunteered for at least 2 of those tours. So I cant complain if he doesnt. Its good money he is bringing home.
And Happy Humpday everyone....Its barely 9 am here and the humidity is just gross
Happy Wednesday, we'll have to do a board prayer for your brother, I worry about anyone going over there!
Usually we have ballet on Wednesday, but it's over for Summer! I just have to clean house then next couple of days, and yet if I clean too early (for the party) the kids will mess it up again!
Where the heck does the time go? Here we're in a midweek morning, and in some ways I'm still in April.
We've got thundershowers coming this afternoon, but until then we're at 32 degrees and humidity. Then the weekend will be perfect in mid twenties and sunshine.
So this is a long weekend both sides of the border! We're bringing my mother home for a weekend pass to see just how much help she and my dad will need at home. I suspect full time live-in help is going to be the order until we can get them situated in a retirement residence. I'm going to check out another one this afternoon, but they have no breakfast service or in house physician, so I'm not optimistic.
The one residence they both love is a bit far out in Mississauga (a vile suburb) and I wouldn't be able to get there more than once a week. But it's like a country club, beautiful dining rooms, full service limos to here and there and all sorts of health facilities.
This is a really stressful situation for my father and me, and he's relying on me to make the decisions. Ack.
That sounds like a very stressful situation! I feel bad for you. Did you mom give any preferences for this kind of thing. I guess it's something we should all do and mention to our parents to have a plan.
Yes, it's really important to have plans in place. My parents left things too long and now are both quite aged, and in many ways too old for a move, but it's necessary.
My father has resisted a move for years because he's a ham radio nut and has a huge radio room and a mess of antennas outside that allow him to have conversations all over the globe. It's a really important hobby for him, and you just can't do that from a condo or assisted living residence. And he could manage to stay on in the house, but my mother can now no longer cook, shop or drive.
Mom loves the Mississauga place called The Sunrise, has friends there, too. Best bet is to put their house on the market and move them in as soon as possible. I have no idea how I'm going to dispose of all their odds and ends - the house is fairly big and loaded to the rafters with stuff.
Anybody need furniture, dining room paraphenalia, clothes size 4 and shoes size 8?
Some of the furniture I'll put into storage because one day my 2 younger sons will be making homes for themselves that don't come furnished (if you can call university housing 'furnished"). The rest will probably get sold in a contents sale, and some, like my grandmother's Ming Rose china, I'll make room for here.
The radio room is a nightmare of junk. My father has been building computers for 30 years and still has his Vic 20 set up. He has a brand new I Mac at the other end of the room and in between, a display of all the models in order.
A couple of summers ago, when the insurance company needed an inspection to update the house policy, they were told that the radio room had to be cleaned out because it was a fire hazzard! My dad has never allowed the cleaning lady in there and my mother just couldn't stand to go in there. So my husband made it his mission to empty it out and took about 25 van loads to various environment day dump sites. Then it was re-drywalled, painted and passed inspection with flying colours. That was then, ahem.
Well another day survived. It is 96 degrees here, but hopefully there will be some storms along soon, to take some of the humidity away. The dew point is at 71, and anything over 71 is considered oppressive.
KaeEll, my heart goes out to you related to what you have in front of you. It must be overwhelming. Two years ago my parents sold their house on Cape Cod, the main house had four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room, family room and living room. There was also a full in-law apartment. It had around 4,000 square feet, on a double lot. It was a sprawling ranch, so they had a 4,000 square foot basement, which half was finished off in, and a two car garage. I won't even bother getting into the full loft over the garage, and the walk-in attic.
My mother loved to go to yard and estate sales, so while there were some true treasures, there was an incredible amount of junk in the basement, garage, loft and attic. They filled an entire container, which was the size of an 18-wheeler trailer with goods for their house in Ireland and shipped that over there. It did not even make a dent. The worst part was that their house sold so quickly, that they did not have another one purchased, and actually went 14 months before buying another one, and it was another six months before that was done renovations. They put their good furniture and some belongings in storage. They had a yard/moving sale. All six of us kids went down, along with spouses. In four hours we took in over $3,000.00. While that is an impressive amount of money, and you can only imagine how many items at 25 cents were sold it was brutal.
Mom has not been to a yard/estate sale since, nor have any of us kids. The worst part is that they bought a little place on a lake up here. It is 750 square feet, with four rooms. They basically gutted the entire house down to the exterior walls and had it completely rebuilt, and it is the cutest little house going. BUT, she has her entire basement full of very expensive furniture and antiques which don't fit into the house. She says that she's saving them for her next house, which she will probably buy next year, because she has decided that they are not water people (we could have told her that, she doesn't know how to swim, and hates being wet!). They are in central Massachusetts, and have decided that they miss the Cape, so they want to go back, and get another big house like she used to have.
The house in Ireland is three stories, and four bedrooms, and FULL of belongings. At least they are keeping that one, and spending 3/4 of the year there. Mom's 67, and dad is 65, and they are not young physically for their ages. You story has goose bumps going up my spine, because it sounds ominous, and if anything like my folks belongings, an incredible amount of work.
My in-laws are both 80 good health but you never know...
We live closest, Ed's sister lives in Ohio, so we get stuck with the house cleaning/selling I'm sure and yet I know his sister will be a total B about everything, she'll want all the good stuff, even though we'll be doing the work.
At least I'm an only child. And my parents are still fairly young, although my dad is not healthy, bad heart and diabetes, would hate to lose him!
