Checking In

I haven't been here for a few days because we have been knee deep in house moving "stuff". While it seems that this was a quick decision and things have moved along at a rapid pace it also seems like it is taking forever.  I think I am the one taking forever.

Once we took possession of the house, and the previous owner's stuff was out, we finally got a good look at some things that really needed to be done.  The glaring issue was carpeting in the living room.  I would have to say that somebody had an issue with red wine on a beige carpet.  There was also a red wine issue with a lamp shade on the light fixture above the breakfast table.  I am not sure if I want to know about that.....

So, we swapped out the shades on the light fixture and headed to the locally owned flooring store around the corner from the new abode.

We were just going to have the carpet switched out but on further review opted to do a bit more.  The very back bedroom will become our study complete with a rolling desk chair so we decided to put some solid flooring in there rather than carpeting although there isn't anything wrong with the carpet that is in there.  We also chose to remove the carpet from the hallway and continue the solid flooring through there just for a good transition.  

We chose a product called Core-tec -- one of these new modern engineered things that is rapidly replacing laminate.  It is 100% kidproof, waterproof, and pet proof.  And since we don't have too many red-wine issues here I assume it will hold up well. 

We have also opted to remove the wood flooring from the entry and dining room and put this Core-tec flooring there as well.  The wood needed to be replaced and we were keen to do it all at once. 

So, here is that product --

not my house!

Since we are currently living with real travertine floors I think this will be a good transition for us and much easier on my knees as one of the layers is cork.  I feel that twelve years on stone floors has gone a long way to make my knees much worse than they really need to be so I am hoping this will help.

In the living room we thought about going with the same stuff but I really wanted carpet -- again for the legs/knees.  I don't especially like carpet because it is just one big dust ball as far as I am concerned but I do like the coziness of it.  We chose  a Mohawk product called SmartStrand which I was told was one of the lowest VOC products available.  I am all about that, you know.  I would show you a sample but I can't find it on the website and I can't remember the pattern name.  It is a low nap carpet and the color is Antique Light so you can have some idea of what it is -- it blends very well with the Core-tec.

Installation of the floors begins tomorrow and will be done by next Tuesday for sure.  The products are having to come from Georgia but they are due here today and I am ready for work to commence.

I am trying to pack but packing all the wrong things!  I need to be emptying out the furniture but instead I am emptying out the cabinets!  I need to regroup.  That is what I will be doing today as we are carrying a lot of our breakables ourselves and it is taking a lot of trips even though we have a truck.  I think we have too many breakables! I think we have too much stuff, period!

And, I have lost the charger for my Kindle.  Blah.  I am sure I will lose a number of things -- hopefully not my mind.

So, that is my quick update on the transition from Maison Brinkley to Brinkley Cottage.  More later.  Oh yes, tomorrow we get internet at Brinkley Cottage as well!  Yay!  Life will feel much more normal!

More soon.

November Family Gathering

November is a banner month in our family. My parents were married on the 14th in 1942, my in-laws were married on the 13th in 1942, my mother in law was born on the 18th in 1921, my daughter in law was born on the 28 in 1977 and my youngest granddaughter was born on the 17th three years ago.  Lots of celebrations and yesterday was no different.

We started the day with a party at my son and daughter in laws house for the three year old, Emily.  She had a Care Bear cake and received a lot of presents.  We got her a nap mat and a tent all in the ever popular "zebra" pattern.  Black and white goes with everything, doesn't it?

After that party I came home and took a much needed nap to rest my knee and my mind.  Too much going on right now.  After that we went to a local barbecue place called Cousins to celebrate my mother in law's 96th birthday.  All of her four children and their spouses were there.  Out of her eleven grandchildren, six were there -- four with spouses and all 13 of her great-grandchildren were there.  It was a large group and the majority of it was running crazy playing tag and hide and seek.  It was a bit rowdy but I rooted myself in the back corner where I could stretch out my knee and just observe.

And what did I observe?  Well, one lost a colored pencil in the groove in the floor, one was running crazy and ran smack into the wall, the rest of them decided that crawling around on the floor under the tables was a fun thing to do wallowing in all manner of yuck under there.  And, Bean decided to share her science experiment, a lava lamp, with all who would observe.  Very lively group.  The rest of us were complaining about aches and pains and my niece was giving helpful information about my knee.

It was a long day but since I spent the majority of it sitting I didn't get too tired but tired enough that I hit the sack the minute I got home.

My daughter did share these photos  from this year and the past couple of years so I thought I would share them here.  I have to wonder what these girls are eating or drinking that is preserving them so well -- I see very little change in any of them.  I wish I had known their secret about thirty years ago.

Jan Brianna Jill -- 2015

Jan Brianna Jill 2016

Jan Brianna Jill 2017

There are three more girls -- Sarah, Rachel and Rebecca but they were unable to be with us.  Love them all!

That Was Then and This is Now -- Comparing Apples to Oranges

Picture this -- 1973 -- San Antonio, Texas.  Factor in two young people with zero experience in house buying.  Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, right? Not so much. 

When we married in July, 1972 we moved to a really cute little apartment with a sunken living room, a miniscule galley kitchen, a nice sized bedroom and several really decent closets.  Apartment living wasn't really great for my husband, however.  I came home one day to find the closet housing all my wedding gifts emptied, everything piled up in the corner of the dining area and a work bench had been constructed in the closet. 

I knew my apartment days were numbered.

So, close to the end of that first years lease, my mother spotted a house in a little local, neighborhood paper -- the Northside Recorder -- and suggested we look at it. 

We did.

It had a living room/dining room combo, a big eat-in kitchen, three bedrooms and one bathroom. It had new carpeting (gold) and new draw drapes (also gold).  It was enormous in our eyes.  It was close to our families.  And -- it had a garage. 

So, we started negotiation if that is what you want to call it.  The family that lived there at the time had only been there for six months.  The husband was military and they were in and out in a blink of an eye. 

Here were the terms and conditions -- $1800 down and assume a 30 year VA loan that still had 29 1/2 years on it.  We sat on the living room floor with a piece of notebook paper and wrote a contract that we (Hubs and I) would bring her $1800 by a certain time on a certain date, we would assume the loan and a week later we moved in.

Fast forward to now ---

Not. So. Easy.  We have loans and papers and warranty policies and inspections and on and on and on.  While moving to this new house was sort of a quick decision, getting there is slow and painful.  So much to do, so many people to talk to, so many papers to sign (did I just sell my first born?).  Just so much.

I won't be doing this again.

I promise.

All I want to do is move.

And, my knee hurts again -- seems I moved too much yesterday.

Sigh

Moving Right Along -- Literally

Movement -- that seems to be the focus of my life these days. 

For the last three weeks I have had very little movement, choosing to sit curled up in a chair writhing in pain.  I finally moved myself to the doctor, got x-rays and a referral to an orthopedic surgeon.  The conclusion is that I have severe arthritis in both knees and I was having a lot of inflammation in my right knee so action had to be taken.

I didn't know this doctor but she put my mind at ease and was easy and pleasant to converse with.  She drew a lot of fluid off the knee (I could feel a difference immediately) and then administered a cortisone shot.  She then prescribed Aleve twice a day for two weeks which I am a little cautious about but I am following orders as laid out.  I am doing a few exercises to try to improve my range of motion in that knee because after sitting curled up for three weeks I am almost unable to straighten my leg which makes walking pretty difficult.  I am seeing some improvement and am SO grateful because more movement is in my future.

We have decided to move from our current home to a new-to-us house with some much needed changes.  We moved here about 12 years ago -- new construction, a garden home with the yard done for us, in a small gated community.  It has been nice but it lacks some things we need.

When we moved here we didn't have four grandchildren.  Our house has two bedrooms and a study.  When I have the group over and need to put them down to sleep I have no room.  It also has a larger garage for my woodworker husband and a place for me to sew which is a plus.  It is also in closer proximity to both our children which will be nice. 

We will close on the property on the 20th and I am ready to get this show on the road.  We (that means the Hubs) have started packing and will continue today.  I don't look forward to this part of it but will be glad when we get it accomplished.  I am ready to be settled.  The fact that we are moving into the bad weather season hasn't escaped me so I am ready to get my stuff in the new place just in case we do something silly like winter.

So, that is what has been going here.  I will update as time goes on and hopefully we won't run into too many glitches!