Smelling the flowers

The windows look phenomenal! Today S2 and S3's bedroom windows and one of the front room windows are being installed. The installers are concerned about the windows on the front of the house (front room and dining room), because the brick comes right up to them. The others have been very simple and quick to put in, because things are level. The ones with the brick are going to take a lot more work.
 
Both drapery quotes are in, and I need to go back once again to Budget Blinds to find a different choice for the dining room. The one we picked as a higher tier fabric and we're just not willing to spend that much if we can help it. The sales person can see me tomorrow at 2 pm. I let my ID friend know and luck was shining down on me, because she can meet me there. So damn lucky, huh?!! Hopefully she'll help me get this right so we can move forward with confidence. She advised me to bring the fabric swatches for the sofa and also from the old draperies so we can get the palette right.

Our window installation foreman was ill yesterday, so they didn't come, but they're back today with a second crew and they say everything will be completed today. We're super happy with the look, but Bond is finding questionable workmanship details, so I suspect he'll have a conversation with the foreman today. Personally, I think he's nitpicking. I like the look of the dark bronze better than the solid wood. Stunning.

Franki's mother is declining. They took the new grandson to visit her yesterday and she was complaining about pain and a solid area on her chest. Franki suspects it's cancer. She said that her mother has lost 15 pounds in the past two weeks and she thinks she may not last much longer. She's so sad. I just messaged with Franki and they are ordering some scans and making an appointment with a general surgeon to evaluate the lump.

Tonight Bond and I are going to the movies - maybe dinner out beforehand, Friday night, Bond, B, and me are going out to dinner with Michelle and the Drummer, Saturday night we're going on a ghost walk that is given by someone we know through Polycocktails, and Sunday the three of us are going to a burlesque brunch. :)

B wants us to have a party. We're looking at October 12th. Maybe we'll go with an Oktoberfest theme. Get some growlers of different craft beers, fill out the banquet with fall themed foods like pumpkin bars, apple pie, cider donuts, pumpkin seeds, etc. Offer pumpkin and/or apple martinis, and apple cider for those who don't care to imbibe. Bring out the fall decorations. It could be a lot of fun. And we could celebrate Bond's 49th birthday 10 days early. :)
 
Hello from the other side of food poisoning! Ah, yeah, seems that something I ate at the brunch was not a-okay. We had plans to go to the Willy Street Fair following the burlesque brunch, but I was already having stomach pains and feeling like something was going to let loose. What a bummer of a day! I woke up Monday morning still feeling the effects, so I stayed home yesterday. I felt loads better by noon and did small tasks around the house.

B is sick with a cold that she caught from her son. S1 also came down with a cold at the same time as her son, so something is definitely going around. It's this way every fall after school starts. Kids are back in contact with others and wham, viruses go through everyone.

The drapes have been ordered! (Install in approx. 4-6 weeks) My interior decorator friend made quick work of dismissing fabrics that were hard no's and I ended up going in a totally different direction for the dining room. I think it'll work well with the plan for the love seat color in the living room. She also inquired about having pillows made from the same fabric for the living room and that's an option and something we'll be doing. Additionally she contacted Maiden Home about their fabric and is satisfied with the quality, so that's a green light. Additionally, she learned that we can purchase the same material as the sectional and have pillows made by the drapery company. These are things I would not have thought of doing, so already I'm pleased that I pulled in a professional. She let me know that she'll have the design plan she is working on for me ready on Wednesday. I can hardly wait.

The window installation completed on Saturday and I have to say I'm more pleased with the look than I expected. The dark bronze is fabulous!

With the free time I had yesterday coupled with actually being in our home without distractions, both Bond and S1 were gone in the afternoon) I decided to do some online shopping for a new shower curtain and liner for the master bedroom shower, and other miscellaneous things like bed sheet holders. I contemplated installing the lighting idea I have for my side of the bed. We need ambient lighting, but also task lighting and I think I can accomplish both in one fell swoop. I would have needed to go to the hardware store to get cable clips and I wanted Bond's input, although taking him to a hardware store means you're going to be there forever, so I postponed that project.

B is cleaning our house today and messaging me with complaints about how S1 keeps his bathroom. Tons of hair everywhere. It is pretty icky and I spoke to Bond about it last week. His sink and the amount of hair on everything is pretty disgusting. It's time to have a talk with him. Now that he's at our house full-time it made the mess all that much worse. Speaking of which, that kid needs to not be at our house every damn day of the week. He didn't go to his mother's this past weekend, because he didn't feel well, and he didn't want to go last night even though he was feeling much better. His mother wanted to get him on Tuesday night's, but wants Bond to drive him there and back, but S1 doesn't get home from college until 6 PM on Tuesdays and that's our date night with B. Fucking kids need to either get their licenses or live on campus or by the college!
 
Life is going along smoothly, other than a hiccup yesterday. I had a good weekend. We picked up my grandson Friday night, returned him Sunday night. Saturday night B and I went to a Ladies Equinox party Bond volunteered to be our driver so we could imbibe freely.

Sunday afternoon we went out to World Buffet with all the kids, and B and her kids, and it was really pleasant. Our timing was perfect in regards to the staff refreshing dishes and they had so many excellent offerings. I enjoy taking the kids there, because they are so enthusiastic about the plethora of choices.

I got the design plans from my friend. Most of her layouts were similar to the ones I had come up with, which was reassuring that I wasn't far off the path. I am going to hire her to help with the fine details once we get to that stage.

My youngest son took a job in Milwaukee. His last day at the paper mill is this Friday. I'm not sure when he starts the new job - probably Monday. He moved his phone onto Bond's plan yesterday, because he had moved it onto his employers service rather than pay it out of pocket. Now with the new job he needed to either start his own plan or jump on with someone else. It's going to be nice having him so much closer to Madison. It moves him within easy driving distance and this momma is excited.

Franki's mother is riddled with cancer. It's likely she doesn't have much time left, but of course, it's really an unknown. What they do know is that it's terminal. That added to the dementia really adds a lot of strain onto Franki.

Yesterday's hiccup: B had brain weasels Sunday night and Monday morning which led her down the path of wanting to know what she brought to our relationship. We gave her lots of answers and she felt better in short order, but man, it sure caused a lot of anxiety for me. Things have been going so well and both Bond and I have felt so much closer to her in the past recent months. It felt like that was all being ripped away, or that it was only our perception and not shared by her. I was so relieved when she said she felt better and life was good again. Holy fuck life can be a roller coaster.
 
Today is B's oldest child's 16th birthday. I love this kid to death. He's such a great kid. We're all going to dinner at [buffet restaurant] tonight, and then I'm spending the night at B's. I have only done one sleepover where I slept with her at her house and I don't think I'll really sleep, but I think it'll be a good thing to do. It will take repeated sleepovers before I'll relax and be able to sleep, but that's just it, one has to do the thing in order to get to that stage. Step one of doing the thing.

We've had lots of rain and the city has zones of flooding. We need to get B's front door painted before the weather is so cold we can't take it off and do it. Sunday the forecast is for partly sunny, so that will likely be priming day. Monday-Wednesday the temps will be in the mid-60s and sunny, so one or more of those days will be painting days. I could help on Sunday, but it'll be on Bond and B to paint on the weekdays as I'll be at work.

Redfin sent me a property listing for a near-perfect home this morning. All we need now is to win the lottery. :D Seriously so damn expensive. Oh, and it's not on the water. Okay, so win the lottery and install a lake. Ha! Take a peak at this beauty. 6210 S Highlands Ave But seriously, who wants to clean 7,500 sq ft and 6 toilets?!

How my brain works...it's open enrollment time at work for health insurance and other benefits. In the process I start thinking about who is listed as my beneficiaries on my life insurance. I think I need to update it. I need to talk to Bond first, though. I don't know if I need to include him. I kind of doubt it. He manages his household expenses fine without any contribution from me. Should I include Twitch, because we still own our old house together? Kind of leaning towards no, as the amount we owe on the house is 1/3 of its value, and the rent we get from it pays the mortgage and a bit of the escrow. He would have to toss in 300/month on his own if he were to continue discounting the rent to the current tenants - they are doing continual remodeling/maintenance projects to lower the rent. So, should I divide it between my three kids? Should I include the grandchildren? I need to talk to Bond and sort through all of this.

That train of thought, plus seeing a post about cremation on Facebook, with another friend commenting that they wanted a green burial, something I also want, lead me to home funerals (not required with green burials, but often combined with) investing many hours into researching home funerals and vigils. I learned that because Bond and I are not married that I need a legal document for designating him and two back-up people as the ones allowed to make decisions about what happens with my body after my death. I updated a Google doc that I created a number of years ago about my wishes and expanded my documents to include all the how-to and resources related to home vigils/funerals. I brought all of this up with B and Bond on Tuesday night, but that was only a heads-up. I need to have an in depth conversation(s) with them to really see if they are on board. I want to speak to my parents to see if they might also be interested in a green burial and if they'd like us kids to see if it's possible to bury them on their farm. It's so inexpensive compared to regular funerals or even cremation. In my case it would likely cost $3,500 to be buried at the sanctuary near our home, plus some other expenses for death certificates and such. In my parents' case it would likely only amount to the cost for the death certificates.

Hopefully it'll be years before I die, but one never knows. One of my goals is to set aside the cost of burial and to collect the things needed for handling things at home. I would rather not burden my loved ones with sorting all of that out at the time of my death. And if they are interested in the same, for them also. I need to put in writing (already partially completed) my wishes and instructions/how-to for whoever is left to this task. It'll need to be updated as time passes and I age and life changes. First, I need to know if this is something they will take on or not.

Speaking of parents, their furnace quit working and my dad had someone in to look at it. It needs a new blower, so he okay-ed the guy to do it. Then he talked to my brother who had his son-in-law look at it. He contacted someone he knows about the blower and that guy quoted 1/2 the price. My brother told our dad to cancel with the other guy, but he didn't do it, because he felt stupid about it. Sigh. So now us three kids are probably each paying $250+ to cover this expense. Additionally, they have a giant tree that lost a big limb and the rest of the tree needs to come down because it could fall on the house (which is not insured). My nephew is bringing big equipment from MN to help encourage the tree to fall away from the house and my brother is hiring a professional to cut it down. Again, the three of us will be splitting this bill. That's going to be a lot more than the furnace blower. I think the plan for taking the tree down is happening the first weekend in November. I may go up there for that. It'll be a good time to discuss the burial idea with my parents and siblings when my brother is there from KY.

Our fall party is a week from this Saturday. I need to get serious about menu and grocery lists and to-do lists. I want to buy pumpkins this Saturday. I have a favorite place that has amazing pumpkins. You know, the ones with the bumps and the white ones, big, giant ones, little tiny ones, and everything in between.

The house was cleaned this week, so that means it'll be near the end of the two weeks between cleanings when the party happens. Sigh. I usually try to time both for the same week. The Honey Locust tree in the front yard is dropping little, fucking leaves constantly and they get tracked into the house. It's a nonstop chore to clean them up. I'd love to delete that tree!
 
Pumpkins acquire (a day late due to rain), distributed in a pleasing-to-the-eye fashion about the house and outdoors, menu mostly planned, and some grocery items purchased in advance of the party. Party prep initiated and increasing in frequency as we get closer to Saturday.

We kicked Friday night off with happy hour, followed by an art walk, and finished off with carne asada sans chips at one of our favorite Marquette neighborhood restaurants.

It kind of felt like a relaxed weekend, but both Saturday and Sunday were filled with tasks. Yesterday after getting pumpkins and decorating, and other household things, we painted B's front door. It's going to need several more coats, but it's a start at least. We painted in the afternoon, waited an hour, and painted a second coat, went home to cook dinner and feed the kids, returned around 8:00 pm and rehung the door ,so things would be secure for the night.

Franki is meeting with hospice today to arrange them taking over her mother's care. :(
 
The only thing I had to do last night was grocery shopping. It was the best night to get it done and needed to happen in order to stay on timeline for the party. I was absolutely too tired to go. Bond volunteered to do it at lunch today. I hope he did.

B's mother is having cataract surgery on one eye today, and the second eye will happen on the 29th, I think. She needs to spend the night at B's, so no date night tonight. Instead we popped a roast into the slow cooker and we're taking dinner to B's house. It's also her daughter's b-day today. They went out for dinner last night in order to clear the calendar for the mom thing.

Tomorrow night is going to have to be a hangout at our house so I can cook.
 
Bond forgot about grocery shopping, so we went on our way home from B's last night. Mission accomplished. I've decided to take Friday as a vacation day so I can work my ass off and get things ready for the party. This way I won't need to make tonight a cooking night and we can have a date night with B.

Her mother's surgery went well and she had a great time visiting with us last night. Thankfully she loves us. I would like to include her in our Thanksgiving day when my parents are here, but B always resists when I bring the topic up. I think her mother would thoroughly enjoy herself and I think my parents would like it, too.
 
The party was a lot of fun. We counted up the number of guests at the end of the night and we believe there were 42 people. It was a fairly easy party, because B and Bond really stepped up and helped more than usual with all the prep, plus Wil came on Friday, and my youngest son arrived at 1:00 pm on Saturday and they both helped, too.

The soups and chilies were a big hit. The weather was chilly and we had everything set for a fire on the patio, but then it started drizzling, so we never lit it.

Around noon the day of the party I told Bond about an idea I had for solving how to manage the "down part" of the cat highway (the one that goes over the light trough that runs along one side of the family room.) We've had a cat tree setting below the end of the run until we figured out a solution and it really clogs up the entryway. We had considered making a rope bridge from that corner to either the fireplace pillar or over the entry way to the closet by the front door. The ceiling peaks in the entry, but the closet only goes to 8' and is open above it. Neither idea thrilled me as we'd be adding more things overhead and the idea made me feel claustrophobic. My idea was to put a hole in the all for access into the dining room, with staggered shelves for the cats to traverse up and down. I was expecting I'd have to sell him on the idea, so I hadn't told him my idea when I first thought of it, because I was so tired all week that I didn't have the energy to champion my cause.

It was kind of funny, because when I told him I had a crazy idea, the first words out of his mouth were, "Does it involve making a hole in the house?" :D

He loved the idea and was all over it. Two hours before the party started he had a hole sawed through the drywall, and found an unexpected wire (!!!) that he'll have to move. We weren't able to get the shelves up before the party, so we pushed the cat tree into the dining room below the opening. The cat tree is too short for Max to go from the dining room into the family room, but I believe he'll be able to go from the family room into the dining room.

Party stories....

OMG, this was so funny. A poly friend comes in the kitchen, hangs her coat on one of the hooks over the bench in the kitchen, gives me a hug, and whispers in my ear, "Who is the handsome young guy? And is he available?"

I look in the direction she's indicating, and it's my son. I laugh and whisper in her ear, "My son, and he has a girlfriend." We both had a good laugh over that.

Later I was sitting at the dining room table with Franki and Smatch, Michelle and the Drummer, and my son. A friend comes into the room and I wanted to make room for her at the table as it was her first time coming to one of our parties and her partner had to work, so she was solo and didn't know a many people there. I asked my son to give her his chair and for him to grab the stool that's right behind him for himself. He jumps up, she protests, and I say, "It's okay. He's mine. He won't mind."

She raises an eyebrow and says something like, "Really? How did you manage that?"

I'm was so amused, and in that moment I'm desperately trying to come up with an answer that isn't crude, because all I can think of is, "I pushed him out 26 years ago."

Taylor laughed and said, "I'm her son."

We all laughed so hard. :D

She stopped me later to say how much she enjoyed talking to my son and how much he reminded her of her partner's son. She then asked if it was okay to take a picture of Tay and me together.

We sent her home with a bunch of keto food for her partner. They started keto in early September and they're doing good with weight loss, but they don't have many recipes and variety yet.

The other friend that was eyeing up my baby boy, we sent her home with one of my favorite paintings, Love is Love. It simply belongs in her house. They have one of the most gender-fluid, polycules you'll come across. Her wife is trans-gendered and they've managed to keep their marriage intact during her shift from male to female, which I think is quite remarkable. She had asked to buy the painting months ago, but when she found out my asking price she backed out, because she couldn't afford it which made me feel super bad that I had priced it out of her range. She's had a rough year of health problems, mostly undiagnosed, so she has not been working. She was so happy when Bond and I told her that it was to go home with her. She was fighting back tears.

Love is Love (24" x 36")

Her wife stopped me later to thank me, and she was tearful, too. It's definitely going to the right home!

So many good things happened that night and I could never convey it all to you, or capture the wonderful spirit of it. I am not that good of a storyteller. I wish I were, but I'm not. It was a good night. Good weekend, actually. :)
 
Today at 4:30 pm Franki is moving her mother to her home. Hospice has provided all of the things they'll need and will provide nursing staff. They warned her that her mother may not survive the move. But to not blame herself if she doesn't, because this is what her mother wants. I understand why they forewarned her, but it really makes things real hearing that. My heart is with her.
 
I checked in with Franki and the move went well. Her mother is happy to be at her place and Franki feels more at peace with everything. Good decision.
 
I asked Franki what her days are like now. She said her mother gets pain meds every four hours, so she has three alarms set; midnight, 4 am, and 7 am. The counselor arrives at 8:00 am. She tries to nap once the counselor gets there. Already her days are blurring and she needs to ask what day it is. I'm always surprised how quickly we lose track of the days of the week and what the working world is up to once we drop out of the rat race.

Yesterday the triad went to Chicago for the day. So for one day we dropped out of the race and now today feels like Saturday, but it's Thursday and I'm at work.

My sister and brother-in-law pulled up to our house as we rounded the corner on our street. It was kind of odd to walk in together. The kitchen looked like a toddler had left all of their things out. Both islands had things out on them, all over them. It was hard to visit and shut it out of my mind.

Did you know that Facebook has shows, like TV shows? I think it's called Facebook Watch. There is this series called, "Sorry for your Loss". It's really good and there are two seasons, well, I believe they are still releasing episodes for Season 2, so it's not all available at the moment.
 
Franki's mother passed away at 1:05 am.

She's so thankful that she brought her home and for these last days to care for her herself.
 
Friday afternoon I went to Franki's. I had sent her a text offering a variety of support/help options, including holding her hand and being there. She messaged back that yes, she wanted me to come hold her hand, so that's what I did. It felt good to be there with her and she was grateful to have me there. <3

She is working her way through the preparations for her mother's service today. She's taking the week off of work and will probably return to work next Monday or Tuesday.

Saturday night she went through photos to make picture boards and she realized that they had had many good times, more than she remembered. It's good that she recognized that. She is the type of person who agonizes over situations where she feels she was less than supportive or compassionate, or failed to be less than perfect in any way. I hope she can put some of her guilt to rest.

Saturday night we had Bond's work Halloween party. The makeup we bought in Chicago, and the additional makeup the Bond and B bought at Mallat's Friday evening were really great to work with - so much better than what we've used in previous years! We looked pretty amazeballs if I do say so myself. The party was boring and they didn't have much for seating. I was extremely tired and not feeling it. I didn't want to ruin their fun, but I was dying. I got them to drop me off at home (we live less than 2 miles from the venue) and they (Bond, B, and Wil) continued on with their night. Perfect solution. :) I climbed into bed and was asleep by 11 pm. Now there is the beauty of having multiple partners - the party doesn't need to stop because one partner isn't up to participating! :)

B and Wil both took off Sunday morning for their respective homes. Bond and I put the house back together (mostly) and then tackled some projects. I can't believe how much stuff we pulled out for costumes and makeup and such! Our new draperies are scheduled to be installed on the 31st, so we had to prep for that. We took down the old traverse rods, patched holes, and retouched the patches. Tonight or Wednesday night we will touch up the paint - actually we have to do more than a touch-up in the dining room where the valance was previously, because we never got behind it when we painted the interior two years ago. But it's only a 12" high strip from one side of the room to the other, so not so bad really.

B plans on spending the night on Tuesday night. She's making an effort to sleep over more often and we're doing the same with staying at her house. We're going to need to put blackout drapes in the downstairs guest room that we sleep in when she stays over. Bond and I both need it to be darker than it currently is with the Roman shades that are in there now. Hopefully we'll be able to do something off the shelf rather than custom again. So fucking expensive! :(

Wil will be back for a concert we're all going to on the 8th. The next day the plan is to do 'shrooms. I'm nervous. I've never done anything like that before and quite frankly I don't like being high from edibles.

My middle son is going to school for welding. He's hoping to start before the end of the year. I'm so happy he's doing this. He needs to make a better living.

We're taking out a tree from beside our driveway this week. Both B and I are super happy that it's going. It's a honey locust and it sheds millions of little leaves that get tracked into the house. The leaves litter the driveway, the car tires bring them into the garage, and we track them into the house. All.Winter.Long. Ugh. With the tree gone we'll be able to make a parking pad for our extra car and B's car. :)
 
We got our first snow last night. It's beautiful this morning with the sunshine on the heavily laden branches and leaves that haven't fallen yet. I think it'll be melted before the end of day today. Thank the gods for that! Beautiful and do not want.

The Digger's Hotline crew got to our house yesterday and marked the utility lines on the grass and put up flags. The earliest Bond could schedule them to come was Thursday, but they were right out the next day which was the first business day after he entered the request. Super happy about that. Now we're crossing our fingers that the tree removal company won't be taking the tree down on the same day as the new draperies are installed. It'll make it difficult for the Budget Blind crew to get into the house if they overlap.

So that painting we needed to get done, yeah, we didn't do that. We're such lazy asses at the end of the day. I made Indian butter chicken and we watched TV instead. The latest plan is for Bond to do it on Wednesday. Drapery install is scheduled for Thursday.

It's date night with the girl tonight. Missing her like crazy. We haven't seen her since Sunday morning. Her mother has cataract surgery this morning, so she's cleaning tomorrow instead of today. She said she's going to bring her cleaning supplies with tonight and clean when we leave for work tomorrow morning. Sounds like a good plan.

Oh! My middle son got into the tech school for welding like he hoped. He starts the Friday after Christmas and graduates at the end of June. He's super stoked. :) It should lead to lots of opportunities and better income. Plus, he's already a damn good welder using the two methods they use at his current job, so I think he has a talent with welding.
 
The tree came down yesterday. They were supposed to give us a heads-up so Bond could move the car from the driveway, but the foreman left his phone in the dump truck so he wasn't able to do so until they actually arrived at our house. Thankfully Bond works 2 miles from our house and his schedule is flexible, so he was able to get home in a matter of minutes to move the car. I can't remember when Bond said they told him they'd probably grind the stump. He may have said in a week.

It looks bare without the tree there. The bushes along the garage that died last winter due to the extreme cold we experienced are now very visible. Right now it's not a big deal as most deciduous bushes are in the process of dropping their leaves. We'll have to remove them in the spring and replace them with something yet to be determined.

Date night was nice. We went to HuHot for dinner. Bond had a birthday coupon for a free meal, and a lady who was sitting near us gave me a $10 off a $30 order coupon, so our meal was really cheap. Woot! :)

Tonight we are going to a school event that B's son invited us to. Bond gave him with a water fountain bubbler for science project, so he invited us to see the finished project. I'm jazzed to be invited and to finally see the school. It's a fantastic charter school that Bond's oldest son also attended and I've never been inside.
 
Let's see...oh, our drapery was installed on the 31st. It took hours, like from noon to 6 pm. I'm mostly satisfied with them. The dining room turned out the nicest. The sheers in our bedroom should have been a bit longer. We had them reset the hooks so that the top rail (on ceiling is mostly hidden), but this brings them off the floor a bit more than we wanted. It seems that if they'd have done the exact same measurements as the previous sheers that they could not have failed. Sigh. The front room drapes are ripple fold and they just don't evenly ripple. We could probably train them nicely IF we didn't pull them on a daily basis. But we do indeed open and close them (shocking!) so they are just going to be what they're going to be. Still nice, but not orderly.

We went to a second Halloween party on the 2nd. It was okay. I didn't really feel like dressing up and doing the whole thing, but these people always come to our parties and we've gone to some of theirs and skipped some, so we felt that we needed to make an appearance.

Last night I spent the night at B's. She invited a couple of our friends over and we had a girls' night. They left at 8:30 pm, and it was nice to have things end early. The roads weren't the best due to the snow and it was a school night. We watched two episodes of Handmaid's Tale before bed.

Currently I'm immersing myself in real estate investing. I am trying to learn as much as I can about it. I would like to start investing now, but in all likelihood it will probably be 6-12 months before I will be able to do it. I've been running numbers to practice evaluating properties to see if the numbers work. My focus is rental properties using the BRRR strategy. Yesterday I found a house I'd love to jump on, but as I stated previously I don't think I can really do it right now. First of all, I want all of my credit card debt gone before I start down this path, and secondly in order for this to work, I will need Twitch's cooperation on refinancing the house we own together. Per our divorce agreement, I have 65% interest in the property and he has 35%. We owe about 1/3 of the value of the property, so there is a lot of equity we can tap into. I want to do a cash out refinance and I'm hoping he'll agree to be a private money lender, because I'd like to use his portion if possible in the first property. I'd be willing to repay him up to 12% interest, but hopefully he'll settle for less.

Dreaming.
 
My thoughts are consumed by real estate investing (REI), so much so that I'm sleeping poorly. There is so much to learn and I've been so focused on it that to some degree I'm more confused now that earlier. I remind myself that is not totally true and that I am learning more ways to do things and will need to sort out my niche that is true to my core values. I would like to do multi-family and single family rentals, so buy and hold properties. I would like to buy, fix/rehab, rent, refinance, and repeat. I'm learning of the pitfalls and gotchas.

I reached out to an acquaintance that I know is into REI about the local REIA group to see if he finds it worth the cost of membership. He said that he does and also has other sources he could share with me, but he was heading to CA that night, so we're going to connect when he gets back. Hopefully he'll be able to tell me how to estimate the cost of rehab - materials and contractor wages in our city/region.

I found two properties that would make good conversions from single family to duplexes, but the zoning doesn't support it and that can be a heck of a battle to get the city to rezone or give a variance from what I've read.
 
Bond has been in Seattle for meetings this week and returns tonight. B and I are going to a Polycocktails social and he'll meet us there. It'll be nice to have him back, but man, I did sleep more soundly without him in bed. LOL

I'm still consumed with real estate investing, so it was nice to have so many hours in the evening alone to immerse myself in my latest passion.

Sunday we're hosting a birthday brunch for B. It'll be a taco/fajita/burrito bar. I'll need to clean on Saturday and do the grocery shopping for it, prep foods, plus wrap her presents. Saturday night we are meeting up with a couple of friends for another birthday celebration, so I'll need to get stuff done early. B will stay over Saturday night, so she'll be there in the morning to help get things going for the brunch. Wil will also be here, just thought of that, so more hands to help with all the stuff.

The weather forecast for Thanksgiving and the day before is full of "ifs". We may have a colossal storm that will really fuck my family's travel to get to our house. Fingers crossed that it bypasses us or weakens. I really need to start planning the menu.
 
Our holiday was lovely. My parents arrived Tuesday night (gak!) because of the storm coming in. They could have traveled Thursday morning, but travel takes a lot out of them and they'd have been nervous, so instead they came down super early and somehow we all survived. B's mother joined us for the first time this year, and Bond's ex (Naya) and her BF also joined us for the first time. Heck, I think it was also a first for Wil. All in all, a lovely day and holiday weekend.

We did not celebrate B's birthday on her day, so it is a good thing we had a brunch with friends the Sunday before. Between my parents arriving a day ahead of schedule and her and Bond cleaning at the new construction home that night until 7:30 pm, it just didn't happen. We were thinking we'd go to dinner this Tuesday at the mini hot pot place, but this morning she realized her daughter has a holiday orchestra concert that night, and the next night S3 has his band concert which I am going to miss, because I am going to a real estate investing meetup group and before that I'm meeting with a realtor that I've hooked up with to help me navigate the real estate world.

We put up our Xmas tree on Saturday, because S3 wanted to. And he wanted it in the living room or family room rather than the sunroom, so we moved the love seat into the sunroom and put the tree in its place in the living room. It's quite nice there, but doing so limited the seating to just the sofa and the cushions on the hearth, so we brought a swivel armchair from the family room in. I feel that it sets too close to the TV to be a comfortable viewing location, but oh well, it's not going to be arranged like this all that long.

S3 decided that he likes the blown glass icicles the best and therefore he decided that we would only put the clear glass and mirrored ornaments on the tree. It looks so stylish. Love that kid!

I have ordered one Xmas gift so far and that's for B. I sent each of my kids messages asking them what they want for Xmas. My daughter wants me to get her a tablet for her BF in prison so she can communicate with him. I believe it needs to be a certain tablet that is approved and likely limited in what it can do. I'll see what the price is, but man, I hate this on so many levels. I am getting my granddaughter a toddler bed, mattress, and bedding. This will free up the crib for my son's gf's baby to use. They would also like a baby monitor, so they can relax with the kids using the bedroom at the far end of the trailer house they are in. It kind of makes me laugh, because kids are loud when they cry and I'm certain they would not have trouble hearing them without a monitor. Oh, well. Nervous parents.
 
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