Smelling the flowers

The car is off the hook. It's fast and it's super comfortable. Tuesday night Bond drove us downtown for dinner and took the Beltline and did a little zoom-zoom on the ramp that made both B and me gasp over the g-force. Serious fun. We also got to experience it parallel parking itself for the first time and there may have been cheering and clapping, just saying. ;)

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So, I fucked up with Franki. That bday dinner with Michelle, the Drummer, and the triad last Friday caused feels because she wasn't invited and quite frankly she should have been. I had a niggling thought that night as we all arrived and then when Michelle posted a picture of us three ladies to FB I really felt it. I wish I'd have considered this ahead of time, because it would have been wonderful to have her and Smatch with us. It was a situation of not thinking further than one day at a time. I need to do better.

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Tomorrow is our School's Out for Summer party and I'm not prepared. I'm leaving work at 4:00 pm today, because I have 1.5 hours of Flex time built up this week and I'm going to head directly to Target for bubble wands and soakers. I haven't even thought about what still needs to be picked up for groceries. We have the meat and I believe I have all the ingredients for a broccoli salad. We should probably buy more sparkling water and a couple of 2 liter bottles of soda for drink mixers. And a gallon of ice cream. B is making cookies for ice cream sandwiches. The kids are going to love those! Thankfully this party is potluck style, so everyone will be contributing.

I applied for a cash-out refinance loan this morning. That's step one towards buying the cabin. Twitch is being supportive once again and is being more reasonable about repayment for his half of the money I'm taking out of the house we own together. This morning he called to propose this that starting January 2019 he receive $300/month for the year, increasing this to $400/month starting January 2020, and then to $500/mo the following year, January 2021, and completing the payback to him in 2022 at a rate of $400/month until it's paid in full. That I can live with. He also said it's fine to pay it off quicker, which is probably what I will do, but it's good to have a reasonable payment plan agreed upon. Once we reached that agreement I started the loan process.

My youngest son's strong yearning for this cabin has really pushed me to move forward, otherwise I probably would have let this float off into 'things I wish I'd have done but didn't pursue'. I find it easy to dream and plan, but pushing myself into the uncomfortable and turning a dream into reality is really hard.

It's terribly intimidating going through all of this loan application stuff. I hope it's not all for naught. It makes me so nervous. I told B and Bond that I had submitted the application and that I was intimidated.

IM Convo:

Way over my head! You are rocking it in my eyes!!!!! I’m team [Petunia] all the way!!!

[Me]Awww, thanks. I may fall on my face, but going to try.

Grab it by the balls and make it your bitch

[Bond] We got your back!​


My peeps are so supportive. I love them so much. So even though I feel like I am forging ahead all on my own and would much rather have one of them in on this deal with me, I need to remind myself that they do have my back. Bond has my back. That's gold y'all.

Goodness, what if I actually get the cabin?!!! There will be so much to get set up before we can start renting it on airbnb.

I saved the listing photos and if you want to see them, click here.
 
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The kids' party was a huge success. We were so fortunate the weather cooperated and was warm, because the very next day it was 20 degrees cooler and windy which would have eliminated all of the water activities we had lined up. The kids played with water for hours; water balloons, water wubbles, water blasters and turning the hose directly on one another. Bond checked the water usage the next day and we used 1099 gallons of water. :eek:

The adults also seemed to have a good time. Several parents thanked me profusely for having a kids' party. It was such a super party. The kids got along, and the sensory kids handled their shit and we didn't have any dramatic meltdowns. As a whole, the kids quickly made friends with each other, as most of them hadn't met before. It was like someone had waved a magic wand over our collection of small partygoers. :)

Our plan was to end the night with a fire in the firepit, but by the time it was dark outside all of our partygoers, save one (JC), had departed. We still had the fire, but only Bond, B, me, and JC were out there. JC is B's new love interest. She's really nice, so I'm hoping it works out for B. I do have a concern about whether or not B and JC have had the safer sex talk. I suspect they were intimate, because the lamp was set on the floor next to the nightstand, which suggests to me that they wanted more ambient lighting for lovemaking.

I shouldn't say we only had one partygoer left that night, because B's kids, Golden's son, and a coworker of Bond's son stayed overnight and were with us most of the next day, too.

We didn't get much done yesterday due to exhaustion. B and entourage left around 10:30. She reported back hours later that after dropping her son off at work that she and her daughter both crashed on her couches and slept most of the day. I wish we'd have done the same. I cleaned up the kitchen and did multiple loads of beach towels and bedding and later Bond and I trimmed some low hanging branches from the trees in the front of the house.

Twitch sent me the documents needed from him for the refinancing, so I believe we now have everything gathered. I expect a phone call sometime today or tomorrow regarding the loan.

I'm really tempted to go home early from work today. I'd leave now, but the house won't be quiet and empty because Bond's boys will be there until later afternoon. It's still tempting. My brain can't process complex thinking today and work is a struggle.

Franki is up north until Thursday this week. She was out bright and early taking pictures of a Bald Eagle in a tree. I can't wait to see them.
 
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Trying to get financing is proving difficult. I should have done my homework first, as PenFed will not allow cash-out refinancing on investment properties if the money is not being put directly back into that property.

Next I checked with the UW Credit Union, but this time around I said that it was my primary residence and was looking at taking a HELOC to then purchase a vacation home. Because of amount of debt, and because they believe I am making the mortgage payment on that house, they thought I would need to refinance the house to a 30 year term to lower my monthly payments and also lower my debt. They are unaware that my son is paying off one credit card, because it is his debt ($1,700), and Bond pays another card, because it's our Amazon card and he pays the statement balance in full each month. And they don't know that by the end of August my car loan will be paid off. Or the fact that I have no utilities or household expenses, because I told them I was living at that house.

I barely slept Tuesday night, so yesterday I was in zombie mode and couldn't think clearly, but I realized it was going to look bad on paper saying I was in residence at that location. Before I spoke to the UW Credit Union lender to hear what he had so say after looking over my application, I went into one of their branches that is next to my office to ask if they allow HELOCs on investment properties. Turns out they do not do investment loans period. The person I spoke to suggested that I check with two other lenders, because he believes that they do investment loans. I called one of the two, another credit union, and they do not do HELOCs on investment loans where they do not hold the first mortgage, but they would do a cash-out refinance and hopefully they allow those funds to be used on other mortgages rather than investing back into the original property. That's what I am investigating today. If this doesn't pan out, then I guess I'll be forced to wait until the first of the year when my debt load will be much less, or abandon the idea all together.

Other life events...I am co-hosting a social (?) for Michelle on Saturday, at my house. It's not a true bridal shower as she doesn't want gifts, but more of a gathering of her lady friends to celebrate her upcoming wedding. I haven't put much thought into it and I can hardly believe that I'm hosting another party right on the heels of the last one. My energy level and enthusiasm are super low at the moment which makes me feel a bit overwhelmed if I dwell on it too much. One fortunate thing is that the cleaners were at the house yesterday and the boys leave tomorrow, so hopefully the house will still be somewhat clean. I need to fit in grocery shopping and lawn/flower garden maintenance sometime between tonight and Saturday noon. Which means, Bond needs to mow the lawn and I need to pull the fucking thistles out of the rose garden. Those damn thistles! I've been fighting them for the past three years and they are incredibly robust. I can't believe how quickly they grow. The forecast is calling for hot and muggy which really adds a layer of dread on top of things.

Last night B and her ex-husband visited for an hour or so. He had a work thing that brought him to Madison and when that happens they usually hang out. We met him and his family on NYE. I really like both him and his wife.

Our baby robins left the nest yesterday. We got to watch the last one leave. He spent some time getting up his courage and then taking the plunge. It's shocking how quickly they are ready to go out into the world.
 
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I came home from work Thursday and decided to mow the lawn. I wanted it mowed before Michelle's party on Saturday and the weather forecast was for high humidity and temperatures, but right then it was in the low 70's, so it seemed like an opportune time to get it done.

And then I injured myself. I fell on the cement driveway. Hard. Bruised and scraped both knees. Thankfully I was almost done with the lawn. :D It was so stupid. I was mowing the terrace, that strip between sidewalk and street, and I was looking ahead to where I'd be turning the mower after doing the short little end by the driveway and down I went. I forgot that the cement curb slopes down towards the driveway and when I stepped my ankle turned and down I went onto both knees. I did not let go of the mower, though. As if I could bounce right back up before anyone saw me and continue on my way. As I lay on the ground I told myself to just let go of the handle, because it wasn't like I was going to be getting up anytime soon. Bond rushed to my side, but I had to deal with the pain for a while before I could take his assistance in getting back on my feet. I spent the rest of the night icing my knees and ankle and Bond played nursemaid and waited on me hand and foot. I skipped work on Friday, because I didn't think I could sit for hours. I continued to ice the owies and take pain meds and got things done for the party. By Saturday I was more mobile and the party went off just fine. But I noticed two nodules on my outer left leg right below my knee. They have increased in size since my first discovery, so I went to Urgent Care today. The doctor examined me and had x-rays taken. Good news is that nothing is broken and she thinks it's soft tissue damage and things will right themselves. I thought that is what would be the case, but I was concerned that it was possible I had a blood clot and with the big drive to PA this coming Saturday I wanted to have that ruled out.

BTW, the party was a lot of fun. Michelle is sewing her wedding dress and she brought the lining material along and had all of us ladies write something on it. Great idea!
 
My knee is worse today. How can that be? The pain is on the right side of my knee cap (interior). It better be better by the weekend! I'll be so disappointed if it interferes with the things I can do on our trip. I really want to see a lot of things in Philadelphia.
 
Yesterday Bond booked rooms for our trip. One night stay in Columbus, OH, Philadelphia Thurs/Fri nights, and Saturday in Buffalo, NY. We're really excited, but barely prepared for this trip. I'm bringing an air mattress and a pump for S2, because he refuses to share a bed with his brother. Bond has figured out the stops (surprisingly few) that we need to make to charge the car. Now we need to shop and pack.

My youngest son sent me a message Monday night saying that his work told him that if he goes to his National Guard three week training in July that they'll let him go. Which is unlawful. He set up a meeting with a couple of bosses to talk about it and he recorded it on his phone. They admitted it wasn't because of his performance and only because of the National Guard. :eek: He contacted his unit, and although the law is on his side, his chain of command told him he is excused from going. I suspect the fact that he has already had 5 weeks of training this spring influenced their decision.

I'm contemplating applying for a different job within my department. It's actually work I've done for years alongside programming, which is my area of study. This past year they decided to hire a data management specialist. It took quite a few months for them to find someone for this new position, and then once she came onboard she really didn't know the most critical skills the job required. She quit last week, because her husband took a job in another state and they are relocating. In theory it was nice to be relieved of the data aspect of my job and to be able to focus on programming, but I never really got to step away from it as initially I had to train her and later I had to continue to assist her and I ended up relieving her of the harder projects and doing them myself as she was floundering. So, now the job has been posted and the salary is $2.5k higher than I am currently making. I have enjoyed tackling these difficult projects, so I am considering applying. There is one area of the job that I haven't been part of, so I talked to the person who was training the person who just left. After talking to him I realized that I actually have done this side of things, too, so it's not that big of a deal.

It might be really nice to have only one area of focus, e.g. data, instead of jumping back and forth between data and programming. It's hard to say which job I would like more; data can be fairly straightforward, although it can also break your brain when requests are complicated, application programming allows for a lot of creativity, but just like data it can break your brain. As I was writing this I got an email from an audit supervisor asking me to do something complicated with a data pull. Ugh. It reminds me of why I was excited when they decided to create this position, although it never really did transfer to her as this is too complicated for noobs. If I stick with programming I'll have to train the new person filling the position and things like this will still circle back to me for a period of time, most likely a long period of time.

The job posting deadline is 7/2/2018. I will need to make a decision soon, probably by end of day tomorrow. If they ask me to submit a resume it would be difficult to do while on vacation. I can't imagine that they would really need one. I've worked her for 16 years, and I've been doing most of our data since 2008 and solely from 2011 to 1/2018.
 
I applied for the data management specialist position. I'm not sure when I'll hear something. BTW, I did have to submit a resume and cover letter.

Our vacation was great, y'all. Traveling in the new car was fabulous. Stopping to charge it was easy peasy and we really didn't have to stop that often, and when we did it only takes 30 minutes, so it's quick and easy. And cheap. We traveled 2,500 miles and it only cost us $56 in electricity. And that's in part because there were several places where we were able to charge for free, but really, that's real life.

Visiting Wil's family was really nice. We had use of an apartment his brother-in-law built over their first story house. Another sister lives in the country and has a fabulous in-ground swimming pool. S3 is a fish and he was in his element having access to it. We went there Sunday and Tuesday. Tuesday we bought fireworks on the way and ourselves a fright/laugh when one of the big "Rain of Fire" blocks I bought wasn't seated flatly and fully supported underneath, so it shot, tipped, shot, uprighted itself, shot, tipped, etc. four or so times. With one time being aimed towards the rear of the house over the deck and blueberry cages, another going at the corn field and one coming up the hill close to us. We were dodging from one side of the hill we were standing on to the other not knowing where it would be shooting next. When it was done we were quite shook up about it and laughing our asses off over the hilarity of us scrambling around and also the near miss of something terrible happening.

Thursday we went to Hershey and made our own candy bars and then onto Philadelphia. We had a lot of fun in Philly, including seeing the Chinese Lantern Festival, the Mint, seeing the Liberty Bell, and eating at the Reading Terminal Market. Our hotel was kitty corner from the market, so we ate breakfast there Friday and Saturday. We left Saturday morning for Niagara Falls. We didn't tell the boys, but we wanted to go on the boat to see the falls. Luck was with us and we were able to do that. And we timed it so that we didn't have a horrendous wait in line. Earlier in the day I guess the wait was 3 hours - in incredible heat and humidity.

Today is my first day back and work and I'm struggling. We got back Sunday night around 8 pm. B and her kids came over for a few hours. Monday we managed a sexy nooner after Bond's kids were dropped at their mother's. Tuesday Bond and I went up north, spent the night at my sister's so we could be there for my brother's 60th birthday surprise party. We went to the Libertyfest parade at noon (and it poured buckets of rain) and then to the museum that my sister manages for the party. About 90 people showed up. It was a lot of fun and having it on the grounds was a great idea. The museum isn't open during the week, so we had the place to ourselves and had use of the pavilion and old fashioned toys, like stilts and corn hole, and a massive rope for tug of war.

So, while I was writing this I was asked to stepped into my boss' office for a semi-interview about why I would like the data management specialist position. I think it went smashingly well. My take from it is that they are considering me and adding an assistant. That would rock. They are concerned that I am contemplating cutting my hours down next year, but quite frankly, if they hire someone to be my assistant, it would work quite well. They have extended the deadline for applications until the 16th, and formal interviews will be scheduled after that.

Part of the reason I decided to apply for the job is that it's posted higher than my current salary, not by much, but about $2.5k. Well, today I returned to work to find that employees of the executive branch were given a 2% general wage adjustment, which closes the gap even more between the data salary and my current salary.

And now I need to get doing some of the stuff I told them I am doing.
 
I'm taking off early today for a mani-pedi. I haven't had one in years, but well, wedding tomorrow and all that. B has been totally on top of this wedding stuff. She ordered a dress and bought another for the rehearsal dinner tonight, bought new shoes, dyed her hair yesterday, and this afternoon she's getting a haircut. In an attempt to catch up to her level of adulting, Bond and I went shoe shopping last night. I found two pairs of sandals, Bond found nothing. I already have a dress that will work for the wedding, but I may want something new for tonight, so after getting my nails done I am hoping to squeeze in a brief shopping trip before heading to rehearsal.

I'm excited for the wedding, well, not the part where I have to do a reading, but for the rest. I'll get to see Franki. It's been ages. Our one year anniversary is next week. I'm really not sure what we're doing even calling what we're doing dating because we never see each other. :( And that's mostly one me. I am so damn busy with my life with Bond and B and kids that I don't have time for much else.
 
The wedding was lovely. By some miracle, or more likely because Michelle wouldn't have it any other way, the weather was fantastic. I lived through doing the reading with only one little voice wobble and Bond thought it was due to emotion, so hopefully others felt the same. I had quite a few people tell me that I had done a good job. I wasn't expecting that. Maybe that's a thing people do when you have a role in a wedding.

Rehearsal dinner was delicious and I went off keto for the night and again for the wedding reception dinner. I shouldn't have, but I did. And then I felt kind of crummy because of it. D'oh.

I surprised myself with how many members of their families I could name and point out to everyone. I was rather disappointed with Bond and B, because they didn't want to dance and were kind of sticks in the mud. Boo.

Franki was so darn adorable in her outfit. Cutest little sprite you'll ever lay eyes on.

Sunday afternoon we were invited to the groom's mother's home for lunch. B begged off due to having to have her home ready for showing while she's away on vacation for a week, but Bond went me. B left bright and early this morning. I hope she has a nice time.

My boss is pretty much acting like I've gotten the data management position, more so than his general hey can you catch this while the position is open interactions prior to our discussion that happened last week about why I wanted the job.

Bond's high school girlfriend is in town for business this week. I believe we're going to do things, like dinner, with her in the evenings. I'm not sure which nights, as they haven't made definite plans. I have a date with Franki Thursday night, our one year anniversary & pre-bday celebration, so maybe they'll have a night to do something without me tagging along. Friday night is his company picnic, so instead of the boys going back to their mother's Friday at noon, they'll go on Saturday.

I keep thinking about my cousin's comment about my tattoo. How he only said something to be able to pass judgement on the fact that I have a tattoo. I wish I would have sat down next to him and asked him if after not seeing each other for years if that's the message he wanted to convey, or if he'd rather catch up with what is happening in my life and in his. Such judgemental, unhappy people his whole family is.
 
If you've been reading my blog for a while, you will have read things I've shared about my daughter. She has made so many bad choices in life which have led her into some awful situations. Some of them she's directly responsible for having created, others not so much, but by association of less than savory individuals bad things have happened. Last night she sent me a photo via Messenger of herself with two black eyes. It seems that a guy she broke up with told a former friend of hers that she had had sex with her boyfriend. This resulted in my daughter being beat up and no one coming to her aid. She thinks her hip may be broken and she can barely walk. This former friend also took my daughter's car keys, so she's without a means to get around. She's at her boss's apartment, but I have no idea where that is. She's afraid to go to the doctor, because she thinks they'll report it to the police, and she has an outstanding warrant for her arrest (child support issue). She sent me a second photo in which she absolutely looked like hell. She said that she was feeling worse. She certainly looked like it. It's horrifying to see.

I tried to get her to let my sister know, but she said she doesn't want to drag family into this mess. I contacted my sister this morning. I woke early and couldn't go back to sleep, because of worry. My sister suggested a free clinic, but then said something about the clinic only being open on Tuesday nights. I'm not sure if that means they are only open weekly and I'm waiting for clarification. My sister was able to find out that they are restricted from reporting anything other than gun violence under HIPAA.

The clinic is only open on Tuesday nights, so she'll need to got to another urgent care. The man my sister spoke to said that they are required to treat her, and that they'll attempt to collect, but you cannot get blood from a turnip.

I have conveyed all of this to my daughter and hopefully she'll get back to me once she's awake and has read the messages. My sister is willing to take her and I'm extremely grateful. I was considering driving up there myself if need be.
 
In the end, my daughter decided that she didn't need to seek medical attention. Maybe the difference of a few day's healing helped, or she simply was too scared to go in, I don't know. She has left town with a friend and although I asked her to give me some details, she has not. I have checked in a couple of times, but she hasn't responded. All I can do is assure myself that if things weren't okay she'd get in touch with me.

Today Bond had the title closing at 11:00 AM for the rental house. He and his wife were both there as they are still married. His wife is happy that they bought a rental as this is something she had wanted to do in the past. She's also reassured that B is the renter and it should be long term. I'd really like to see the place again tonight. I'm trying to influence Bond into redoing the carpet (basement) and tile (kitchen and dining room) before B moves in.

Oh! News! Saturday B sent us a message saying that they accepted an offer on her house and that it closes in August. One showing and it sold. Perfect!

B gets back from her vacation today. We cannot wait to see her!

Things seem kind of sad with Franki and me. I think she's depressed and I feel like I somehow play into her emotional state. She hasn't said anything along those lines, so maybe I'm wrong. She's dealing with a lot of stress regarding her mother and trying to get her ready to downsize into assisted living and her daughter's marriage is falling apart. Maybe that's everything, but I have a feeling there is a section that relates to me, too. I'm ready to go back to being friends and not girlfriends. I feel so much guilt instead of joy when it comes to her. I just don't want to destroy our friendship in the process of backing off.

We were supposed to see each other Thursday night. She was coming to Madison and we were going to eat and then go to the Fete. She messaged that she hadn't left yet around 5:30 and then a few minutes later she said she was canceling due to anxiety and that she had actually left to come up earlier, but had to turn around and go back home. It was our one year anniversary and the next day was her birthday. I will see her on Friday, although I'm not sure we'll get a chance to talk. We are invited to a friends' home for a backyard movie night and we'll both be there with other partners and possibly children. I will need to pick up my grandson after work first. The movie night is shrouded in sadness/concern, because our friend is having brain surgery on Monday, so he and his wife set up a movie night the preceding Friday night. I'm still reeling over the fact that he has a brain tumor. He's the nicest guy and in his 40's. I hope the surgery is successful and that he has a good outcome.
 
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My daughter got back to me; she's alive and well. And that's all she had to say. Sigh.

Bond and Naya looked at carpet samples after the closing and brought three home. I dislike them all. :D Bond and I went to the house with the samples and they look so different in the actual environment with the real lighting. Then we went to Menards so I could look at what's available and we grabbed two more samples. The one that his wife prefers is really light colored in two tones with a cross hatch pattern. I straight up told him it was too light and will show stains. He thinks the 10 year stain protection will stop stains. I reminded him that B complained a lot about how light the carpet in her house is, especially when she first moved in and how the kids were getting it dirty. When we showed B the samples she immediately pointed to the light one and declared she hated that mother fucker. LMAO. Of the five samples, her two favorites were the ones I selected. We opened things up for her to look at both Menards and Home Depot to see if there is something she likes better.

We've also decided to have a gas line run to the kitchen so she can have a gas range. Bond just sent a link to compare two ranges. They both look nice.

Seeing the house empty really made it apparent that the walls need a fresh coat of paint. B was hoping they'd only need to paint the kids' rooms, but unfortunately it's all going to need to be painted. We're hoping to have the house ready in the next two weeks. Maybe three. Her house closes on the 31st of August, so we have a fair amount of time. Naya said she's down for helping paint.
 
Last night was date night with B and we had a super nice time. We ate dinner at our house (Mississippi pot roast, gravy, cauli mash, mocha fluff) and then went to the new house. B had brought paint samples and the carpet sample. We sorted through the samples and picked our favorite colors at our house, but we wanted to see them in the actual lighting in the new house. We narrowed it down to one color that will be used to cover the white in the downstairs family room, and the upstairs living room, kitchen, and stair well. The accent walls are in dark gray and will remain that color. The kids still need to settle on colors for their rooms.

After the decisions were made we sat on the deck under the pergola, the sellers agreed to leave the patio furniture and cushions, so we pulled those out of the storage chest, and got comfy. She's so excited. She loves the vibe of the house and feels great about it.

This morning she sent a message that said, "I'm STILL so excited about the new place this am. I feel like I'm vibrating. :D "

And then we went back to our house for drinks and sex. :D

My daughter sent me a picture of herself last night. She's looking much better. She's wearing light sunglasses and makeup, so it's not easy to tell, but I think her eyes are no longer black and blue. She has her hair dyed super dark (she's a strawberry blonde) and she asked who she looks like. My first thought was me, but B wasn't so sure, so I asked her and she said, "Like you silly goose!"

She said she's convinced more than ever that the girl who beat her up broke and dislocated her hip. I'm trying to get her to go to an emergency room or urgent care to get it examined.

I woke to a friend request from some guy I don't know. I saw that he has two friends in common, my daughter and my nephew. I asked my daughter who he is and she replied that he's her ex-boyfriend that cause all of this and wanted to know why. She's thinking of not returning to our hometown again to live, because of all of this. She may find a job and stay where she is. I told her to find more wholesome peeps this go-round. Damn, that girl can find the bottom of the barrel with no effort.

Bond is comparing stove models. He sent WP a message with the ones he's considering and asked him about his contacts/discount he is always telling us about. He's a contractor so he can get contractor pricing. So far he hasn't responded. Mostly he comes off as a blowhard know-it-all. We're waiting to see if he's more than hot air.
 
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Today's gotta do's:
  1. Prep a report for release (work)
  2. make sauce and zoodles for dinner tonight
  3. make Swedish meatballs to take to movie night on Friday

We're creating lists for materials and tools, some are purchases, others are things we have and need to gather, and a few are professional services we need to arrange, like a plumber to put in a new gas line.

B is going to start painting today. That kind of scares me 'cause she's a wicked messy painter. Our weekend will probably be consumed with painting and that rather sucks, because I have my grandson this weekend. It's been ages since he's been over, probably May, and I hate to not focus on him. Truth is, he usually spends his time playing video games with the boys, so he'll probably be just fine even if I'm occupied with other stuff. My house on the other hand is seriously in need of cleaning and I don't see where I'm going to find time to get it done.

I cannot believe how much cat hair accumulates in a short time. Ugh. We badly need an iRoomba. Bond made some comment about the cost of one would equate to x number of weeks of not having the cleaners come. Geez, I want one, but I don't want to give up the cleaners. He's already dropped them down to every other week, which means another way to look at it is that we've already saved the amount of an iRoomba by cutting their schedule. He says he'll help clean if we stop the service, but I have no faith that will actually happen as he's never demonstrated a willingness in the past and only does things I request of him. I am not his parent. I am not taking on the role of being the person who directs the chores, and it's not fair for the cleaning and cooking to fall solely on my shoulders when I have a full-time job just like him. Last night it was 8:15 by the time dinner was cooked, eaten, and cleaned up.

Okay, enough grumbling. I'm tired, because the man and the cat were awake at 5:00 am. The cat kept knocking the pocket door in play and the man was on his freaking cell phone. Ugh, light! When I'm this tired everything seems like a big fucking deal and takes so much effort to deal with.
 
WP lived up to our expectations regarding appliances. He talks a good talk, but it's all bullshit. When push came to shove he couldn't do better than the sale prices at Best Buy or Costco.

It rained on movie night, so it turned into an indoor social. Approximately half of the guests were relatives. That was nice. What a scary thing they are facing. Today he is in surgery. They took him in around 8:30 and last update was that all was going well. If things run according to schedule he should be out of surgery soon. Franki and Smatch were there. It was so nice to see Franki. We have a date Friday night. I need to remember to bring the card I got for her.

Tomorrow night my nieces and their tots will be staying over. The one niece will be arriving sometime during the day with her 6 month old daughter and my other niece's 4 year-old son. The other niece is flying in from France and won't get there until midnight. The first niece flies back home Wednesday morning, so I won't see either of them long. The second niece lives on the west side of Wisconsin and will head home after dropping her sister at the airport.

And my house is a mess. I had zero time to clean this weekend. We spent most of our time painting at the new house or doing things with the kids.

I ordered a bed frame to go with the queen sized mattress we're getting from B. I had hoped it would arrive in time for the girls' visit, but it arrives one day later. They will be fine with the beds we have, but it would have been nice to have the one guest room switched from the twin beds to a new queen bed.

My renters let me know last night that the air conditioner died. Ack! Thankfully it turned out to be something minor and only ran me $288.
 
I took a mental health day yesterday so I could tackle the tasks that we had fallen behind on at the house. I was busy from start to finish and I can't imagine what last night or this week would have been like if I hadn't.

Because yesterday was date night, but my niece was going to be there, we planned a nooner. So much fun! A forty minute break in routine and then everyone resumed their normally scheduled day.

Part of my accomplishments was mowing the lawn and yanking some weeds, big ass weeds. I'm so unhappy with our lawn. Each year I see it degrade in condition. The thistles are spreading and it's evident that we are losing the war. This year we have some plant/weed popping up all over and they're big. The only upside is that they have shallow roots, so they're easy to pull out. I've had a plan to change our lawn over to a no-mow lawn and thought that perhaps a 5 year goal would be sensible. But, I want it sooner than later, so right this minute 5 years seems like an eternity. I've been talking about it with Bond, but always framing it in the future a couple of years from now as something to work towards. Last night I told him he better save up a boat load of money to apply towards it next year, because I can't hack it. I think his retort was that I better save my money towards it then. Sigh. Regardless, I'd like to get an estimate from this company, formecology. They'll come up with a phased plan and we can decide which parts we'll tackle ourselves and which ones we'll have them do. I told Bond that I want to have someone in while the summer foliage is there, so they can see how shaded the various areas are and plan accordingly.

The bed I ordered was delivered yesterday, so if we'd had planned accordingly we could have had it set up for one of my nieces last night, but as it was we didn't have the mattress at our house. I'm hoping we'll be able to get WP to haul it from B's to our place with his truck in the near future.

I made a keto coconut cake yesterday to celebrate my nieces' birthdays, and no-vodka vodka sauce and zoodles for dinner. It was all so good! I love my new cookbook. That vodka sauce is so good that my niece wants me to take a picture of the recipe and send it to her, and B said it was so good she wanted to drink it...and kept taking spoonfuls of it. That recipe is a definite keeper!

B has hired movers for August 8th. She had sent us a message saying that she really wished she could find movers for $300 or less. I told her about U-Haul and hiring movers through them, and she went that route and it comes in right at her budget. Sweet. We're all getting older and moving house is hard as fuck. :D

I moved my phone onto Bond's plan with AT&T Monday night and my son paid off his iPhone, so no more Verizon wireless bill for me. Going onto Bond's plan is only $15/month + taxes. Holy cow that is a huge savings for me. Like over $200/month!
 
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Today I had an appointment with an orthopedist. She scheduled an MRI for tomorrow morning. I'm still surprised that they are getting me in so quickly. It's probable that the bumps are ganglion cysts. The MRI will confirm and will also give her a view behind something-or-other in the knee. If it's a ganglion cyst I hope they/I can video tape it being removed.

Tonight Bond is attending an electric vehicle information session. The organizer usually tries to get EV owners of different makes there for people to see and as they say, get "butts in the seats". I'm kind of thinking of not going with him. I mean, it's nothing new to me. However, it would be time with him and a couple of friends who live right next door to where it's being held are going, so I could see them, too.

I've wasted some time today watching videos (and joining Facebook groups) on acrylic paint pouring. O.M.G. I love it. Putting that on my list of cool things I'm going to do when I have some time and some money. I'd need to commandeer some basement space and make it cat-free. I'd be so upset if I made something super cool only to find cat hair in it.

So, let's see, in the future I am going to take over the bedroom that adjoins the master bedroom and convert it into a dressing room. I am going to invest in wood working tools and start making shit. And I'm going to create an art space where I can make cool art.

Franki let me know this morning that she woke up with a full-blown cold. Damn. I suspect she'll be canceling our date night tomorrow. Damn summer colds. They are the worst.
 
MRI results taken from myChart. Very technical.

IMPRESSION:
1. Complex tear pattern is seen involving the body and anterior horn of the
lateral meniscus. There is a flipped fragment of meniscus in the lateral gutter
and also in the intercondylar notch with a diminutive residual anterior horn in
situ. There is also a large associated para meniscal cyst that insinuates
anterior and posterior to the lateral collateral ligament complex and the
subcutaneous soft tissues as described above.
2. The lesion lies superior to the proximal tibiofibular joint. Note that the
lesion is much less likely to represent a ganglion cyst.
3. Moderate localized articular cartilage loss at the patellar eminence. There
is an area full-thickness articular cartilage loss on the weightbearing lateral
femoral condyle. The peripheral edema in the medial femoral condyle may be
subchondral relating to a full-thickness peripheral cartilage defect. This
finding could also represent an direct contusion.
4. No ligamentous pathology seen.

I have an appointment with a surgeon for a consult on the 20th.

Franki is still sick. Her pulmonologist would only give her prednisone burst, so she's going to urgent care for an antibiotic today. :(

We worked on the new house Sunday and I think we will need to dedicate an afternoon or evening this week, too. Saturday the plumber ran a gas line to the range and a water line to the refrigerator. Thankfully the ice maker in the refrigerator works. So happy about that. The carpet installers had the carpet out and one room and part of a hallway still needed the pad removed as of Sunday. We painted on Sunday and other than touch-ups that's all finished. I started removing painters' tape and putting outlet covers back on, but didn't get it finished. Saturday Bond and I shopped a number of stores for a new gas range and found a top of the line one for a decent price, and a new stainless steel one basin sink with a faucet and soap dispenser kit included. I posted the old electric range on Facebook Marketplace for $75 and it sold yesterday. The carpet will go in today. The driveway will get mud-jacked to level it on Wednesday. It cannot be driven on for 48 hours. We will need to complete all touch up painting Wednesday if we want to stay on schedule, because Bond needs to install the new sink before Saturday and he won't do it until we're done washing out paint things. Thursday the new gas range gets delivered. Saturday morning Bond and B pick up the U-Haul truck and we meet the movers at her old house and start mowing stuff. B plans on moving some things that will fit in her car starting on Wednesday. I'll be so surprised if she's actually all packed.

Right now Bond and B are at Menard's buying safety bars for her mother's apartment. They may actually install them today, too. She is being released from assisted living where she's been convalescing since her fall when she twisted her ankle probably on Saturday or Sunday. The timing isn't optimal by far.

Somewhere in all of this I need to find time to pick my grandson up on Wednesday and return him Friday night.

It's an exciting week, but also a bit daunting. Tonight is date night and we've decided to keep it as a date night other than stopping by the new house to see the carpet. Everyone feels we need the connection time and to take a breath and relax before the rush of the remainder of the week.
 
Things have slipped with the house schedule, well some of it is right on target. The carpet didn't go in until Wednesday. The kitchen tiles that were replaced were finished yesterday and holy Batman, the entire house is covered in white dust from the grinder they used to remove the broken tiles. Bond put a message into our guy who basically is our GC. He and his son were the ones who did the tile, they are also the people who painted our house last fall. He also has a connection to the carpet guys, so he handled the carpeting of our basement and is handling it with this house, too. And they are the people who clean our house, well the guys' partner and their son do the cleaning. They promised they'd get it cleaned today, but it wasn't done around noon when B dropped off a load of stuff. Bond sent him a message and he said they'd be there in 45 minutes. Another issue is that the color they used for the grout is a sand color and the rest of the grout is more of a brown. They're going to have to stain it, because it can't stay like that.

Right about now the new range should be delivered. Bond is also supposed to install the sink today. I haven't heard anything about it, so I wonder how it's going, if it's going.

I picked up my grandson last night around 5:30. I left work a smidgen early, but I won't have to report it seeing as I came in early. Bond made the kids frozen pizza so I didn't have to cook when I got home. Dinner can get really late on nights when I don't get home at my regular time. I was way too tired to cook anything last night. I ate a couple of pieces of bacon, a slice of coconut cream cake (keto) and a handful of nuts and called it good. I don't know what Bond ate.

Work has been hellish this week. I moved onto a new computer and it's a different OS, Windows 10. Some of my things aren't playing nicely and on top of that it turns out that three large files of data were done poorly by the agency we got them from, so sorting out what was causing the import issues was complicated and frustrating; is it the data or is it the SSIS package? Additionally, my boss is so lame. He told my co-worker and me that we can't count on him to do the things we need him to and that he's simply going to forward all of the emails on a project to us so he isn't the roadblock anymore. I was like WTF?! You're telling us that you aren't doing your job like it's no big deal. He's been holding us up for a month, literally a month. From July 2nd to yesterday. I'd schedule an appointment with his boss, but the timing is crap because of that job I applied for. Once that's settled, I may move forward with talking to her about how he is failing at his job.
 
The house is cleaned and ready, but the sink is not in. Bond had issues with the clips and he called it a day around 7 PM, because he was too hungry and getting tired. I found him a good YouTube video, so hopefully that answered any questions he may have. I'm hoping he leaves work early and gets it installed. The new stove looks fantastic.

My grandson is going home today. His stepmother will pick him up at the house when they're done at the zoo. I am going to leave work and meet her there. His little sister wants to see our cat and his stepmom wants to see the kitchen. They've never been to our house before.

B messaged that she picked her mom up from the extended care facility and got her settled at home, did some banking, and is now heading home to get work done. I'm sure there is a ton of stuff to accomplish. It's always that way before a move.
 
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