What's Going On?

It's Thursday. This week has gone fast and has been insanely busy.

1. Our floor is crap. There are spots were the polyurethane is rubbing off. It makes no sense. 90% of it is gorgeous. Of course, the spots are in the high traffic areas... We're not sure what to do. We can't put any more poly down. I guess we'll be looking at rugs. Argh.

2. We managed to get Mom and Dad's vehicles transferred to their new owners. Yay!! But...Ordeal. Per usual.

3. We managed to get the Estate account opened. Ordeal.

4. We also managed to pay the pressing bills - funeral and mortgage. The mortgage company is filled with buttholed idiots. They have the short certificate listing me as an administrator, but said they couldn't talk to me. Jerks. And again... Ordeal.

5. Because they deserve a special shout out - The funeral home is amazing. They are so caring and wonderful. Everyone is awesome, but Funeral Bob is a great guy and has checked in with us frequently over the past two months. We are so lucky to know him. He's become a friend over the last year and I'm grateful.

6. I did manage to take a half day on Wednesday. Got a lot of editing done, which is awesome. I came home to a still sleeping teenager, which gave me time to get busy.

7. Edits are going pretty well. I need to do another read-through. Punch up some emotions and things, and I'll be ready to send it back! Yay! Of course, this is going to take time, and we have an insane weekend ahead.

8. First yard sale at Mom and Dad's this weekend. We're not even remotely ready, but we will be. This is the first of many. We've only scratched the surface there. It's all hands on deck, though. Basement will be started by whoever is not working the sale, and then we'll switch out. And we'll be having a birthday party for my future brother-in-law's twins.

9. My puppy got fixed two weeks ago. We were able to remove "the cone of shame" permanently. We actually did it days early, but watched her to make sure she wasn't licking. I still have bruises. She's done with restrictions, which is awesome. She has been wanting to run so badly. She still has a day or so of antibiotics to take, but she's doing well! I'm so happy I don't have to deal with a doggie period anymore!

10. Here's an all in one for ten.... I am exhausted. I keep forgetting things I wouldn't normally forget. I don't sleep. I need a new car. I wish I was in New York for the National conference going on now. I want to go away and have some fun. I want my living room back. I want to spend a full weekend at home and have a jammie day. ... I'll stop there...

I may be back for Feel Good Friday tomorrow!

Behave!

Where were we?

Let's see...
I last posted on Tuesday... That seems like a lifetime ago...
Wednesday was crazy. Running around and trying to get stuff done.
Thursday I took a very much needed break and went out with friends to see Magic Mike XXL. We'd all gone to see the first one and had made a pact that if they released a sequel, we would all go. Dinner was really nice - great food and company. The movie was surprisingly good. I expected it to be as dark as the first one, but as it turns out, it was a really feel good, women empowering, sexy men, buddy, and growth movie. I really enjoyed it, and for more than the beefcake.
Tonight we sanded, cleaned, and put another coat of polyurethane on our floors. Fingers crossed! It already looked better when we cleaned up and left. Got back to mom's and ordered food. I got my edits and looked over them. I'm good with everything, so just need to make it happen.
Tomorrow is crazy busy. I have to be in Ship first thing to take care of Estate bank accounts. The way things are written, my s-i-l and I have to be present for every transaction. What a pain. But once we get the account open, we can start paying bills. Once we get the vehicles transferred, we're good for a while.
Then we head to my sister's to help with their annual wing cook off competition. Should be fun. And work.
Sunday I will start edits.
I was supposed to take some time off from the day job next week. Was looking forward to it for editing time until I realized I might have to let my time go for someone who needs to lose time since OT is not approved right now. Damn.
I'm a little... okay, a lot... overwhelmed right now... I have a hard time shutting my brain off these days, which makes sleeping interesting and makes me teary during the day. I think it was after two until I feel asleep last night and it's been the same all week. I keep a notepad beside my bed so I can write stuff I don't want to forget down, and I end up with a lengthy sticky note on my phone by the time I leave work. I check one thing off and add three more...
This, too, shall pass.
Behave!

Summer Survival...

*My last post was written on the 9th, but then edited and posted on the 11th. I didn't realize the date would stay... you would think I would know that by now.... Ha!

I miss those days a lot... Being home with the natives - their antics, their perceived boredom, they way they occupied themselves... Summer was a lot more fun back then. Although it didn't seem like it at the time, I had a lot more time to do things. I was writing a lot, my house was clean and organized.
Now it's just same thing, different day. Or so it seems. I have a lot on my plate these days. I don't have time to do half of the things I want and need to. It's been ages since I've been able to "just" relax - not take a break from a task to relax, not relax after a long day of doing whatever, but to spend a day doing what I want to do, instead of what has to be done...
I'm not trying to complain, though it does sound like it. This is life at the moment and I have to do what I have to do. And I am. I'm just feeling a big of nostalgia for simpler times. This will pass soon enough into yet another phase and I'll deal with that, too.
So... my floors need another coat of poly. I thought they would be okay, but the more I look at them - as lovely as they look in many places - we're not pleased with the end result. We knew it wouldn't be perfect, but we didn't expect the floor to look "this" bad. The didn't all fill, there are spots that were somehow missed with the final coat, and all of those areas are not places we can cover up with furniture or rugs. We'll lay down another coat this weekend and see where we end up. Has to be better than right now.
My dilemma is now that I don't want to put my crappy ugly furniture back. I'm searching for something reasonable to replace it. I can't spend a lot and I don't want to considering the three cats and dog, grandkids (and messy teenagers). So we'll see what happens...
Okay... time to write...
Behave!

I Am Trying...

There is a lot these days.
Estate stuff, family stuff, work stuff, writing stuff... OH HEY!! I am writing again!!
Or I was until my computer DIED!! Getting used to the new one is a pain! I haven't had much time to actually play with it! I do like it though, but the learning curve is steep! Red lasted me for 7 years, so there's a lot of new stuff to get used to!
But I lost my story...That sucks hardcore....
I expect my edits soon as my book comes out in August. We're going to have to be quick, but my editor and I are confident we'll get them done in time!
I had to write a letter to a family that were a part of our lives from the time we were little. There was a long stretch of not seeing them, following by a long stretch of seeing them, then followed by another stretch of not seeing them. They aged. My parents aged. They moved to Montana. We had no way to get a hold of them. Mom's address book is missing. It wasn't until she sent Mom a birthday present that we knew how to contact them. It's been almost 2 months... That sucks... It took me over a week to write the letter. The first letter ended up being 14 pages long and was a lot of spew of how things are going now. The second letter was to the point and just had the facts, but it still sucks. This letter has been hanging over my head. But it's done now. And I still feel bad for having to tell them that way.
There are a lot of things like that these days. We got through the anniversary of Dad's death. Hard, but what are you going to do.
Our Uncle and Aunt are the best! They aren't too very far away and they are making sure we're good. Our cousins are doing the same. Texting, calling... we're supported, and that's great, but we're still doing this with just us...But I will say that my sibs are the best. The four of us that have been here through thick and thin are still here through it. We agree. We get stuff done. And we're so much closer than we've ever been, which is saying a lot! A whole lot. We had our first fourth of July campout without our parents, and it sucked, but we did good. We have each other.
My family stayed at Mom's all last week. We started redoing our hardwood floors over the 4th and the dry time is insane and suckage! I made sure the kitchen and dining room were comfort places - completely free of boxes and stuff to go through.
We spent the weekend working hard - got the office gone through, boxed up for yard sale, and cleaned enough that K3 could actually sleep in there. We'd been using it as a storage room when Mom was having her kitchen redone and were still going through boxes when she died. It was a horrible mess, so it's a huge accomplishment! We also got the garage organized. We had a family meeting, which was productive.
I'm beat though. Home again, but there is no furniture in my living room, except for bean bags. The floor didn't turn out like we expected, but it's still beautiful. There are still a few tacky spots, so we're waiting to put the furniture back. I still have a bunch of dust to clean up. Our cats are happy to be free again - we had to keep them contained so they wouldn't get on the floor. They had everything they needed, but they didn't like it.
Elsa got fixed on Thursday and is now wearing the cone of shame. My legs are covered in bruises. So are everyone else's. She's knocked over so many things, broken glasses and beer bottles, gotten stuck on furniture and in doorways, and is generally pathetic. She's doing really well though. No ill effects from the anesthesia or surgery. Except we left her antibiotics at Mom's, so she'll be running a day behind on them. We took the cone off once we got settled in at home. She's not licking at all right now, but we'll be putting it back on before we go to bed. I hate it, but I understand why she has to wear it.
I'm done in. Though I did write a few words tonight. I'm still learning this computer, so everything is a little strange.
That is all...
Behave!