Let's get at it, 2024

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I don't know if I got the cold going on at my daughter's house or it was working in the hoarder house yesterday but my sinuses are fucked.  I don't know how Susan has lived there all this time.  I noticed the cat's coat is looking bad and he's a big fluffy cat.  Hope she closes Thursday.

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Susan is locked in for Thursday!  Got all her connections and deliveries scheduled.  Went back and bought a few more pieces of furniture.  Looks like we're moving her this weekend.  Tomorrow she'll lock in the sale of the hoarder house.  We'll go back when they get it flipped.  The woman is amazing, excited, terrified and sad.  But first, we have to go to my old boss's retirement party.  September is starting early.

Daughter got sent home from work sick.  Sent her to bed.  Had the baby down for a nap and the house cleaned.  SIL called and needed me to hand a client some product.  Is that legal?     Plus he had chocolate chip cookies I couldn't touch!

[cineater]

Wait, wait, wait.  Susan texts me this morning and wants to know when I'm done mom sitting.  She wants to take some time off at the end of September or beginning of October and do fun stuff.  I'm jam packed in September and the overflow is being moved to October.  I do need a new best friend after losing Marsha.  Susan's a good candidate except she's adverse to anything outdoors.  And I did want to start doing more with my life than gardening.  But, geez this is a lot of incoming stuff to juggle and its not at all relaxing.  

I was looking through some tubs at the hoarder house and at the bottom of one was a book about joy.  I've been looking for that.  I passed it by because who needs more shit.  Now I'm wondering if I should have taken it.  I'm toying with should I go back to the hoarder house to get it? 

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Oh damn it.     When it's put in your path, pick it up.  I'm going back to the hoarder house.  This better be a good book.

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Woohoo, Susan is on her way to pick up the keys.  She and Benny the cat will be sleeping in their new home tonight.  It will be on a blow up mattress.    She says all things considered, it wasn't that bad.  Sign off on the hoarder house next week and it's all over.

Sandy and I are working on our Golden Girls gather around the kitchen table and talk it out.  We like the coffee and cheesecake but last night was, hey coffee is on and she just made brownies.  We had the suicided of a neighbor kid to remember and Sandy's brush with death.  And that Star Buck's mild, breakfast blend of coffee sucks.  She made a poor on sale decision and was really in need of a good cup at my place.  My coffee is nothing special.  Probably more of an indicator we have been doing this a lot lately.   

Wow, somebody on the block over got the dark blue siding.  Looks really good.  Makes me smile that we have color in the neighborhood.

[cineater]

Yeah, I don't know what's going on.  My foster son is coming in tonight for a week and we're moving Susan.  Nobody seems to have any concrete plans so I'm just going with the flow.   

Did attend the retirement party for my old boss.  DJ was kind of freaking.  It's the first time she's been back since she retired.  Pulling into the lot she's saying this is activating my PTSD.  Look we're just going in, visiting, having something to eat and leaving.  We're not going back into the working area.  I get it, my first time back was a little freaky and I haven't been in the building.  We walk into the party and get a warm reception.  I can see the young faces I don't know going who are these people?  The faces I do know, it takes me a minute, they've aged.  I had a nice time.  This was home for many years for me and these people were family.  The building looks much the same just more worn out.  Nobody is talking work.  We did have a pretty lively discussion on how well you get treated when working in the private sector compared to working there.     We left, didn't really talk about it, go back to the lives we have now.  DJ did ask when she was going to see me again.  You know, someday soon, we have stuff coming up.  We're okay and you're not alone in this.

[cineater]

Kind of a freaky day.

I was at the garden waiting on my crew, only one other person there.  A Marsha look alike car pulls in.  For a flash I'm thinking why is Marsha parking there.  Catherine even mentioned it gave her a chill when she pulled in.

Susan's doctor wants to see her as soon as possible.  Her test results haven't posted to her online chart.  She's been feeling very tired lately and a shaky incident.  Today she was really tired and sweating.  We didn't really do that much.  She thinks it's the false indicator of blood cancer she tests positive for.  She put off the doctor until next week.

I did pick up the joy book.  We got most of what Susan wants out of the hoarder house.  I go back Monday to pick up a couple of things I'm taking.  Hopefully Susan feels up to cleaning out the storage locker tomorrow.  She didn't feel like it today.  She was going back to grab the cat and spend the first night in her new condo on the bed she had delivered today.

Wait, the title of the joy book is Creating Moments of Joy:  Along the Alzheimer's Journey.  Can I take that back to the hoarder house?   

[cineater]

Susan cancelled cleaning out the storage locker today.  It's coming crashing down on her.  I call it the hoarder house but it's her family home.  She grew up there and spent the last 4 years there watching her parents die.  The only physical things she has left that are familiar to her are the cat, her car and the office.  Did I mention they are remodeling the office here soon?  We've been through that mess before.     Says she is having some physical and mental health issues today.  Thinking I need to hang close for a while.  There isn't even furniture in the new place yet.

You know I would have had that storage locker cleaned out yesterday and the kitchen setup.  My motto, keep going because your exercise yesterday is going to catch up to you today.     My back will recover.  My right knee is telling me to knock it off, you know I don't have much time left.

Haven't heard from my son.  He's in town and hanging with the kids.  He'll come around at some point.

Oh good, Susan accepted my invite to do dinner later.  It's September, jam packed September.  I've got this, walk in the park.  Starting it off with a Dead concert, some coffee and a hot shower.

[cineater]

I hit treasure at the hoarder house.  Grabbed a bag of jewelry that was headed for Good Will.  Rings, pins from the Navy and fraternal organizations.  Real metals like gold and silver.  Couple of pieces of ivory.  The parks is going to shit when I hand them this bag.  I picked up cement Jesus for the nuns.  Got to weigh 50 pounds!  And he kept falling over in the car so I had to have my hand on his head.     That may be my last trip to the hoarder house.  There's a WWII Navy uniform the parks may want.  It's going to stink!

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I ask my son if the woman at lunch was totally using the grandbaby to hit on my SIL.  Oh yeah and the SIL had no clue.  She cut out real quick when the baby puked up his entire lunch.     Good job baby chase that woman off.

I'm the cool grandma.  Got my 14 year old granddaughter a mini fridge for her room and some cool cash for her birthday.

[cineater]

Susan got the furniture yesterday, the washer and dryer today plus the stove.  HVac serviced today.  I'd like to say she is all in but we still have the storage locker to go and she's getting new windows.  Benny was sent to the cat spa to get the smell of the hoarder house out of his fur.  The parks doesn't want the Navy uniform so I may not have to go there again!

My son is leaving tonight.  The visit was good.  I'm ready for him to come home but he's still working out things in Ohio.

Another school shooting, damn.

[cineater]

Decided the treasure wasn't really what the parks collects and cashed it in.  $439.10.  Susan freaked, I freaked.  Told her I was keeping the dime.     Had no idea it was worth that much but I am good at spotting real jewelry.

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The goal today is to clean out Susan's storage locker and then she will be all in that condo.  She skipped church this morning, says she's real tired.  Yeah, when is that doctor appointment?  How it all started with Marsha too, really tired.  Or, maybe it's just me, I work harder than most people.  I'm use to it but Susan is freaking me out a little bit.  If anybody deserves cancer, it's me.  There use to be a time when I deserved one of those sex diseases but you have fun getting that.    Shhh, don't repeat that.  I still maintain I'm a virgin or close enough.  Never want to tell a guy anything more than that.  Yeah, time to lie your ass off.

Update:  We had to stop by and check the hoarder house.  Was that the last time for me?  The buyer is delaying closing as his title person has been sick so some where towards the end of September.  Decided our new favorite restaurant, Billy G's, we've probably hit up too much and it's time to check out the other places.  Susan sees the doctor tomorrow.  1:00, she promised to text me.

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Susan's okay, they just wanted to change her Rx.  Could have did that over the phone, right?  You let your friends tell you what they want to tell you.

David Grohl made a statement about having a baby with a woman not his wife.  Wonder what prompted that?  Something for people to talk about I guess but did anybody congratulate him?  So many deaths, I'm not going to put down a birth.  What's her name?

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I'm on mom sitting.  My sister left last night.  Mom's looking forward to coming up.  We'll go between the two houses.  We have a few things planned but she doesn't last long.  She wants me to do some yard work for her when I'm there but wants a few days on her own.  My sister is okay with that, we'll see how it goes.  My biggest worry is we have to use mom's car to transport her so my car will be at her house.  My car is my purse.     I have everything in there.  I have a feeling I'm going to turn into a bag lady transferring everything between cars.

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I guess my house is staying beige or yellow depending on where you look at it from.  My insurance won't pay to reside the whole thing only the damaged sections even though there isn't a match for my siding.  I asked the sider to give me a bid on the whole thing but I think I will just use pieces from the neighbor's to fix mine.  I was liking changing our color to green.

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Look mom, no acting out because my sister's out of town.  First she wants to spend some days on her own and now she wants to drive herself to therapy.  She hasn't driven in 6 months.  Does this sound like teenage behavior when the folks go out of town?  Stay home alone, drive the family car?  If she comes up here and asks my SIL if she can try some of his medical marijuana I'm going to call my sister and tell her she has to come home, now!   

[cineater]

I knocked one of my bottles full of burning oil off the mantel.  I caught it before it hit the ground but it poured out and splashed everywhere.  No idea how you even clean that up.  I grabbed the bottle of Dawn with the little duck they cleaned up from the oil spill and used that.  I'm not sure if I got it cleaned up.  I guess whatever is left will collect dust and that will soak it up.  It may take years to clean that up.     Good catch though.  It was heading for my brick hearth.

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Mom said she had a good time.  She can't deal with a change in her routine.  Being at my place was very unsettling for her.  She's going to stay home next week and I'm going to go down and check on her.  My sister is going to be really pissed when she gets back.  My niece is selling her home and moving her family in with my brother and can't do Thanksgiving and she's pregnant.  My mother immediately offers to do Thanksgiving at her house.     My sister hates hosting the family functions.  Caleb offered to do it but it's too far for everybody to drive according to mom.  And she wanted me to break the news to my sister.  Hell no old woman, you made that mess.  Family, what can you say besides I'm glad I live a good distance away from them.   

[cineater]

I got an offer to leave town for a day.  Oh god yes!  I don't think I've left the area in 5 or 6 years.  Not even a run to Columbia for a hoagie. 

Kohl's has shopping carts that lock up if you try to take them outside.  It's so people can't load them up and run out the door with freebies.  Susan tells me they are in other stores too.  News to me.  Apparently I haven't been shopping in a while either.     Kohl's might be going out of business.  They set up self check out and have very few employees running around.  Not many customers in the store either.  Looked like a store in decline.

I'm getting new siding for the house.  The insurance refused to pay for it so it's on me.  I feel like I'm making a mistake, my siding guy assures me I'm not, you know the guy who's making a profit off of me.  I probably wouldn't feel this way if it wasn't going to take out my bank account right before Christmas and taxes being due.  But it's going to be Catus color, green/grey, with white trim.  There's a lot that went into this decision but the guy attached to me got his insurance to pay for his so I'm kind of stuck if we want the whole unit to match.  It will be nice having a color on the house.  I was tried of living in a colorless world.  Now if we can just get it scheduled and done.