Friday Flying

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

I'm hoping you are all flying through your days.

I, on the other hand, was snoozing.

So this won't be the normal, inspirational, start to the day.

If you were like me and slow moving, it is time to kick it up a notch!

If you have been flying this morning, report your progress and inspire the slugs in the village!

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

The aquafit class I intended to go to started at 9 and I didn't wake up until 8:20 (and am in no shape to jump out of bed) so that will be missed today. There is regular swimming this evening, so I could go for that. I've already missed the second aquafit class of the day so I'm going to aim for tonight.

Rain is moving in. It is hazy today but rain will start late afternoon or evening so dh wants the house emptied today.

We can load in the garage and unload in our garage here but the things to go to ds's, Habitat for Humanity, and the thrift store need to be unloaded outside so we will start just after noon.

I'll let ds sleep until 2 and we'll time our arrival at his place for then. He can come back out to join us in bringing the last loads in at that time.

I think we can manage with 3 car loads (2 for us, one for him) especially since he can use his front seat.

Yesterday we visited with our back yard neighbours and when we came home there was a big box on the front porch. The new owners had ordered a giant doll house for their girls and it was delivered by Costco long before the promised date (the website says 7 - 10 days.) We've put it in the living room and let them know.

I need to eat and get moving. I'm trying hard to keep this place presentable since I have guests coming on Tuesday for lunch and Thursday (actual house-sale day) for dinner. So anything we bring from the house has to find a home as soon as it arrives here.

[CathyS]

Hi everybody!

I've been awake since 6. The alarm went off for Wayne at 6. He leaves for work just before 7. I stopped trying to get back to sleep since the door closed. I've been working on getting all the clean clothes away and purging my closet at the same time.

We have a dinner date with my sister, her husband, my daughter and her boyfriend tonight.

It's so marvelous to be with a man who works and socializes with others. ...

My dad's house sold yesterday! There was a clause about the buyer only buying our place if their place sold. My brother informed us that we need to clear out the furniture sometime in the next month. Nice that all this will happen before the snow flies.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

Cathy: Congrats on the sale, but hang onto the staging of the house, and continue to actively market it.

It took our buyers 4 months to sell their house. So we ended up selling it to them twice, once privately and then when their house didn't sell (despite them listing with an agent - they had it for sale privately when they first looked at our place), we put our house on the market with an agent. Our buyers ended up finalizing the deal using real-estate agents (which cost us $17K in commission in addition to the 4 months of carrying costs.) They had to reduce the price on their home twice in order to sell it, eventually asking 10% less than their original price and not even getting that.

They were incredibly motivated to sell and we knew this (they'd email us on a regular basis, telling us everything they were doing to get their house sold so they could put an offer in on ours again.) But it took a long time.

I'd also recommend that you figure out which house is up for sale and ask your agent to set you up with automatic updates on the market in that area. That way you can see what is selling near your buyer's home and if they are being reasonable. In my case, my sellers originally thought their 25 year old home was worth almost as much as the new houses for sale just 2 blocks away. And, as nice as it was, it wasn't worth $60K more than other houses the same age, also a few blocks away. So it took all the cheaper houses selling, and them dropping their price, before a buyer seriously looked at their place.

[Twins' Mom]

I did the clean up for dcleaning lady this morning and sat down at this computer. I need to take ddogs on out for their walk soon.

I have been trying to work with my iPad, I used to understand all this syncing/backing up but with the change of iPad and change of computer last year it's made me crazy. I booted up the old computer the other day and managed to get synced photos off the iPad and that freed up some space. I couldn't download the update without getting apps and photos off. Wish I understood it better.

I just sent a Facebook message to the mom of the two little girls who were here for Rosh Hashanah offering to loan them our large Shofar to blow at temple tomorrow. It will be nice to see it used.

I need to throw on clothes and walk the dog boys - no rain right now but had rained a little earlier.

This afternoon I have body work at 1:30. Dh and I will probably go out to eat this evening but need to be at temple at 6:45 (according to Rabbi) for the "ceremonial" past presidents photo. It's always made me crazy that the rabbi wants us to show up 45 min before the service for the photo - IMHO it's ridiculous and spoils the pre-fast meal for families and past presidents - and someone is always understandably late so we don't take the photo until 7:20 anyway when the service starts at 7:30.

I'll s2s late this afternoon, but I should lay out my clothes for tonight and tomorrow.

[DeeClutter]

so dh wants the house emptied today.

Good plan, I'd say, Kathryn. Especially since I know much cooler temps and rain are to move in later today through tomorrow morning (for us at least). Hoping it clears a bit before dpastor's wedding tomorrow afternoon at 1:30. Glad for you that you will be soon 'done' with this process. Is it EVER really done?

Took dh to the dentist to get his plate readjusted again. He says it's real 'close' now. We plan to take the Mercury Comet back to DS-A's perhaps Sunday afternoon. He has 2 winterizations to do that day as well. If the day's not bad, he may take the apparatus and get DS's Motorhome winterized. If they use it at all it will be to drive and camp for DGS15's last race this season. Dh plans to change clothes at the church and head right from the church to the track. I'll ride back to the campground with a friend of ours (he's planning to go to the race with dh.)

My face is red. Two or three times and as recently as this morning I asked a dfriend from church for her minutes from our Mission Budget meeting in March. She sent them right off this time. I saved them and went to paste them under 'annual reports for 2014' and discovered much to my chagrin -yep, she sent them on March 17th. We were both very efficient and they were already there. Sent her a note of apology. I don't know why I didn't 'see' them earlier. Know she had to hunt for them and her dh said he thought he'd erased them.

Working on clearing & cleaning the living room today so need to be 'at that'. I'll be flying around that room at least until dh's lunch time.

[DeeClutter]

Forgot to say that I had to take our new car to the dealership yesterday. We had one tire that kept losing pressure. Service showed me where it had been punctured in a spot that was not able to be fixed. SO! I had to buy a new tire to the tune of $198!! I had even asked if there was no road hazard pro-rated guarantee -not on new cars. So to say the least, dh was NOT happy. He called our salesman and lo' and behold the service manager just called dh. Told him that they're sending out a $200 credit for anything we want there. First thing we'll buy is the oil change coupons. Think it's $65 for 4 changes -for which it's not due yet. Restored dh's faith in the dealership. Now I have another 'job' -send a thank you note to our salesman. I'm happy that he's now happy. His point was that it very well could have been a defective tire to begin with and nearly $200 for one tire was a bit extravagant. So now I'm happy too with a tire that hopefully will not need to have air put in every few hundred miles. If we have trouble with any more of them, you can bet we'll be asking -are these tires defective. They're from a manufacturer we don't recognize.

I actually spent several hours there yesterday because the model & tires were so new that they had none in stock. So had to wait for a delivery of one.

[Norma]

Just fooling around on here while Mr. Guy gets ready for his last appointment with the knee replacement doctor. He is doing so well and I am sure Dr. S will see it immediately. Doesn't hurt to have a wonderful surgeon -- and the recumbent bike Mr. Guy bought recently. He really likes it and uses it several times a day.

Our beloved SF Giants play at noon today and we are so excited. The team they play - Washington Nationals - are coached by Matt Williams from right here in Carson Valley and he played many years for the SF Giants. He has done wonders for that team - his first coaching job - and it is making us a little nervous. We shall see.

Time is growing shorter to our leaving for AZ for the winter and another monkey wrench has been thrown at us. My left thumb has been locking up recently so I went to see the doctor who takes care of stuff like this. He gave me a shot of cortisone, but I don't get the feeling he is very optimistic about it. We will know by November 1 and if it isn't behaving he will do a bit of surgery on it. I don't think it is a big deal, but I hate to have to try to get packed and ready with my thumb bandaged. Oh Well.

It is good to see CathyS so happy in her new life. Good for you, Cathy.

[Ramblinrose]

Mornign ya'll...

I wanted to clear up and add to what happened to my student. First, he, age 23, and his neighbor, age 49, live close to each other. Not sure if they live next to each other or not. For the past year, for reasons not explained, they have been verbally abusive to each other. Don't know who or what started it.

Wed, when this happened, my student drove past his neighbor and tossed his coffee out his car window and onto the neighbor's. In retaliation, the neighbor, jumped in his car, drove up to my student's car and did the same.

That started the chase where each person was screaming at each other. At some point the neighbor crashed his car in front of my student's car causing both to crash and stop. The neighbor claims, at this point, he heard a gun shot, so he grabbed his gun, which was somewhere in his car, and jumped out of his car. Then he ran up to my student's car and shot him 5 or 6 times at close range.

Witnesses say they heard no gun shot before the neighbor shot my student. My student later died at the hospital.

Sad ending to a promising life...however I also need to add that I am not surprised at his behavior. He was hot-headed and easy to anger. This is one of the reasons he was in my class...I had him for two years and worked closely with him for a third. He was also a sweet talker who had no trouble lying to your face "if" he could get away with it. That never worked with me and he knew it...I saw great positive changes in him during the time we worked together...but I was never fooled, and always though he had an edge to him.

On the flip side, he was dedicated to his mom, very musically inclined and had and maintained a paying job...as a DJ...from the time he was 16. The last time I saw him, which was last winter, he was working at a bank and getting ready to buy a house. He was still very involved with music and was working in a studio learning the production side of the industry. He would have been great at it.

I knew his mother well during his three years with me. She had it tough; my student's father was abusive and had left the family and there was little money to go around. My student recently bought the house so he and his mother could live there together.

When I lived in Mobile I spent 10 years working in very rough inner-city schools. As cold and cruel as this will sound, it was not uncommon to see that one of my former students had died in a violent way. I estimate that of the 600 of my"boys" that I taught...80% of them are dead or ended up in prison by the time most were 18. Hard statistics, but a real fact of life in their world.

Anyway a senseless death is always a loss no matter what. I feel for his mom and his friends who are still wondering why this happened and trying to come to terms with my student's death. Many are reaching out to me and again I find myself trying to answer their questions, when I already know there are none.

[blessedw2]

Good morning!!!