Rapid delivery

Yesterday I stopped at Office Depot and ordered a new desk and file cabinet because, of all of the things I got rid of, I should have kept my desk.  Turns out I have a perfect space for it here and lots of stuff that really only goes well in a desk. So I bit  the bullet and bought a new desk. That was yesterday afternoon.  This morning at 9:00am I got a call from Rhonda in the office down stairs telling me there was a delivery for me and she would send it up. While I was waiting for it I got a call from Office Depot telling me my order had been shipped. Nice timing. Anyway I think a one day turn around was pretty good. Next step - get it assembled. An assembly guy is coming on Friday to do that. That gives me a day to clear the space where I've been stacking stuff while I decided that I needed a desk.

When does it feel good to pay bills?

When you have money in the bank of course.  Today the deposit I made after my closing finally was cleared and I could start paying off some of the debts incurred while getting the house ready to sell.  One step was to get a cashier's check made out to the window company and the new owner so he can hand it over when the window installation is finished to the buyer's satisfaction.  I delivered it to the buyer's wife at the house today.  It felt a little weird to pull up to what used to be "my house" see strange cars in the driveway, not have a garage door opener in my car and need to ring the doorbell.  Even stranger to see furniture in the rooms that doesn't look at all familiar.  Some things hadn't changed though.  The windows across the front of the house are still the same old windows even though Bill (the window guy) called me last Wednesday to tell me the new windows had arrived. Ah well, it's not my battle to fight any more.

life on the river

I figured out today that the river that runs past my apartment is the St. Mary's.  I figured this out when I drove across the bridge I can see from my balcony and saw the sign that said St. Mary's River.  So far, in my sporadic observations of the river (I tend to stroll out on my balcony about six times a day) I have seen three pontoon boats, one kayak and one canoe.  Also four ducks. I'm obviously living in the fast lane now.

An unexpected benefit

Today my granddaughters had a youth group meeting downtown at our church. My son texted me and asked if he could just hang out with me for the two hours of their meeting, 5 to 7 pm. I said sure - I always like company - then realized I didn't have anything I could serve him for supper so suggested he bring my daughter-in-law along and we would walk across the street to Hall's for supper.  They both thought this was a fine idea. We enjoyed our supper then came back and "hung out" here. What a handy apartment.

fulfilling a promise to myself

One of the things I've been looking forward to since I'm living downtown now is the chance to walk on sidewalks in relative safety. I've also been thinking that, while I'm living here, I'll be able to walk to special events. Today I accomplished both.  I walked for 35 minutes from my apartment to Parkview Field where I enjoyed Fort for Fitness.  It was inspiring to watch all those runners crossing the finish line after running in various races while I sat in the stands eating sweet potato fries.  A friend of mine (my age) took part in the 4 mile walk/run event. Her time was one hour, ten minutes - somewhere in the middle.  She's a walker, not a runner. We met up after the race, walked 20 minutes to where she had parked her car and she gave me a ride back to my apartment on her way home. Maybe next year I'll try the 4-mile walk.  I wonder if they'll let me use my cane?

a very funny play

I saw a very funny play at First Presbyterian Theater this evening, "Escanaba in da Moonlight".  I've always wondered what goes on when men go hunting in the wilds of Michigan, the UP that is.  Last week I worked front of house during the play and could hear some of the dialogue even though I couldn't watch.  I thought it was mildly humorous.  Tonight I could appreciate how much the physical action added to the play. It was hilarious but you really had to be there. It's on for one more night if anyone is interested.

I'm back!!

Never did find out if we have free wifi in the lobby here but today I got connected again.  It took the Frontier installer almost 4 hours but I have my internet connection and my land line (same phone number) and suddenly the world and I are back together. I think it's interesting how dependent I've become on technology which I didn't have at all for the first three-fourths of my life, Except for the phone of course but that hardly counts as the same instrument.  Do you remember rotary dials or, further back, boxes on the wall with crank handles? Text referred to the words on a page and was not a verb, and pictures were taken with a camera.  Isn't life fascinating?

Free Wi Fi?

The list of amenities published on the Three Rivers Apartments website lists, among other amenities, free Wi Fi in lobbies.  I hope that's true.  I also hope they have some comfy chairs in the lobby and don't mind me sitting around in my pajamas in the evenings.  I finally (after many days of phone tag) heard back from Frontier today.  They are only too happy to hook me up, and I have decided to keep my landline but the earliest they can hook me up for phone and internet is Sept 24 so I may not be able to blog for a while. I also will be dependent on my cell phone which will be a good test of if I need my land line at all.  Time will tell.

FHA appraisal results

Well, I heard the results of the appraisal today.  The house appraised for over the purchase price so that's good.  However the appraiser required that two windows be scraped repaired and painted.  The buyer, who is very anxious to move, by this weekend if possible, came over today and fixed and painted the two windows. Of course those are two of the ten windows that will be replaced on Thursday, a fact that I was told not to share with the appraiser because it might delay the closing.  Now we have to wait for the appraiser to come back out and check the repairs (which will probably happen on the day the windows are being replaced). Isn't life fun?

Well, now I've done it.

Today I served the last family dinner that I will have in this house. We celebrated three birthdays, the food was good and everyone seemed to have a good time. My son wandered around the house, inside and out, admiring the emptiness and, I think, saying some private goodbyes to 33 years of memories.  But, as he and his family were leaving he asked if I would be having a Halloween party in my new apartment.  I kind of thought I was passing the party baton but maybe not.  Luckily my big old dining room table is moving with me.

A Far Cry

Saw an interesting musical group this evening a 16 piece chamber string orchestra called "A Far Cry" from Boston. They played 20th century orchestral music by a variety of composers, mostly from South America. At the intermission I asked a friend who was sitting in the row in front of us how she liked the performance so far.  Her answer, "Well they're very skilled musicians and I do enjoy watching their facial expressions. I was feeling a little bit the same but found myself enjoying the selections in the second half much more.  In fact by the end when they played a very traditional rendition of "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" as an encore it seemed rather ordinary by comparison.

Some will come, some won't.

I was talking to a friend at church before a meeting the other evening, telling her about my 10th floor apartment. I'm very excited about it but she said "You know I can never visit you there." Turns out she has an elevator phobia. Who knew.  Then we got to laughing because in all the years we've know each other (about 32 since I joined First Pres) she has only been to my house twice.  On the other hand one of my cruise buddies can't wait to see the place. She's bringing supper and coming to help me empty some boxes the day after I move in.  Now I just have to learn how the buzzer works to let people in. I'm hoping she will be the first of a steady stream of visitors or maybe a steady trickle - I do have a finite number of friends.

They don't make it easy.

I spent more time than I should have today trying to get electric and Fios service for my apartment. Yesterday my rental agent emailed me an information sheet with the phone numbers I should call for electric and internet service. I started with I & M, called the number provided, explained my situation to a pleasant sounding young man who, after many questions back and forth, told me that they didn't have any record of electrical service to my new address.  Seemed strange to me.  I have to assume the tenant before me had electricity.  He told me to call the apartment complex and get the meter number. So I called and was told in no uncertain terms that I&M never needs the meter number and Three Rivers definitely has electricity. She did some phoning for me, called me back and told me the young man had been using the number 3 instead of the word Three in the address.  I called back, got someone else, explained my situation and finally got things set up so I will have electricity.  That will make my life easier.
Then I decided to tackle Frontier.  I called the number provided, left a voice mail, got a call back within the hour. The nice lady told me to call a different number. I did, got voicemail, left a message, finally left to pick up my granddaughters from school.  When I got home there was a message waiting on my phone - someone returning my call.  I called the number provided, left  another voice mail message, after being assured by their recorded message that they were open.  So far no call back.  I'll try again tomorrow.

Simple minded

or simply brilliant??  Sometimes I amaze myself with my own brilliance. Of course it can be very slow in coming. I have been having a small glass of red wine after supper each evening, for medicinal purposes of course.  Dr. Oz recommended it.  This habit means that I have had to learn to get the corks out of wine bottles.  I'm doing pretty well at this. I've only had one cork crumble and I haven't broken a corkscrew in over a year. However I found myself struggling to get the cork back in the bottle after I had poured out my drink. It came out, it should go back in, right?  but it wouldn't fit, until one evening I turned the cork around.  The skinnier end, that had been at the top of the bottle slipped right in.  Brilliant, right?  I'm sure every other wine drinker in the world already knows this logical fact so why isn't it printed on the bottle, or on the cork - maybe a discrete little arrow and the message "put this end in first, dummy".

News about Stonehenge

I've always been intrigued by Stonehenge. I was lucky enough to see it a few years ago and it's just as wonderful and mysterious in person as it has always seemed in pictures.  So when I heard on TV this morning about a new discovery at Stonehenge I was interested.  It seems scientists have discovered, three miles from the center of Stonehenge, a row of stones that are now three feet underground.  I'm not sure if they are arranged in a giant circle or just in a row. The interesting thing is it looks like all of the stones were originally positioned standing upright but then at some time knocked down.  One of the commentators said it was like a giant row of dominoes arranged and then knocked down.  It seems those prehistoric people had way too much time on their hands.

nail biting time

Tomorrow the FHA appraiser is coming to do the appraisal on my house for the buyer's loan.  My logical mind tells me that the house is not overpriced and it will appraise with no problems. Unfortunately my worry genes seem to have overridden my logical mind. I am beset with "what ifs" and the worst part is I won't know the results of the appraisal until sometime next week. What if the house doesn't appraise and the deal falls apart after I've moved out? What if the appraiser decides I need to install a new septic system? (I recently heard a horror story about that happening to a seller.) What if I just go to bed now and hope for the best? I think I'll go with plan C.

great idea but it confuses the customers

I went to a movie today with some friends.  We went to Coldwater Crossing and saw "A Walk in the Woods", an excellent movie with some amazing views of the Appalachian Trail. It brought back memories of camping in the Smoky Mountains.  I think the aging heroes made it even more appealing to people of my age.  Lots of good humor, however we weren't laughing so much at the seating arrangement.  This is the second time I have attend a movie at Coldwater Crossing since they installed their super new plushy reclining seats, really very comfortable. The seats are wonderful but the requirement to select your seat from a chart when you buy your tickets slows down the ticket buying process. The next problem is the way the seats are marked.  The seat numbers are posted on the ends of the armrests which caused a certain amount of confusion - I was assigned seat 8 in row I - is this the seat to the right or left of the number 8? Add that to the fact that the letters identifying the rows are small and hard to see, especially if you come in after the previews start and the fact that some of the seats were evidently sold twice, made for an entertaining show for those of us already seated as people searched for their seats. The movie was great, the seats are really comfortable, but I don't see the necessity for assigned seats.  Ah well, nobody asked me.

Boxing

Not the kind where you hit people, the kind where you load stuff into them.  I am beginning to have a very fine collection of boxes sitting around my house. After selling and donating and trashing 4/5ths of everything I owned, how can I still have so much stuff?  And now I'm at the point that I don't really want to get rid of anything more.  So I'll just keep boxing and hope that all that closet space in my apartment will be enough.  Several years ago my dad downsized from a 3 bedroom house with a full basement (and I do mean full) to a tiny studio apartment in an assisted living facility. Of course he was 86 at the time.  I read recently of a woman who downsized to the point that she only owned 100 items. Hah, I have more than that in flatware and glasses.  To top it off, I spent some time today making a list of things I "need" to buy.  I guess I'm not really clear on the concept of downsizing.

Well, I've broken the ice...

...metaphorically speaking. Here it is early in September and I've actually ordered my first Christmas gift for this year. Nothing like needing to buy stuff for my granddaughters' fundraiser to get me motivated.  One down, many, many to go.

Saying goodbye slowly

I'm moving to my apartment in two weeks. I've been envisioning a slightly sad moment as I drive away from the "cow house" for the last time. Until I discovered that I had to come back the very next day  at 8:00am to let the window installers in, and the day after that to let the cleaning crew in.  Ah well, sooner or later I'll say that farewell. In the meantime I'm eyeing the apple tree which is loaded with apples this year and trying to decide if I have time to make one more batch of applebutter. Oops, just remembered, I've already packed my cookbooks.  I may have to make applebutter in my new apartment. Decisions, decisions....

Things I'm not allowed to stay

I picked up two of my granddaughters after school today as I do every Wednesday and Thursday.  In conversation as we were driving home I was informed that I am too old to use words like cool, awesome, rad, dude, etc. All right. I have a broad enough vocabulary to struggle along without ordinary expletives. However this is the last straw.  After receiving a funny e-mail from the older of the two aforementioned granddaughters I responded LOL only to learn that I'm no longer allowed to use LOL. Really?? None of my super cool, rad awesome friends of my own age have ever complained.

Do I sound like a lush?

I scheduled a bone density scan today.  This is one of my favorite physical tests.  You just lie on a flat surface while a machine hums above you, no pain, no discomfort.  As opposed to, say, a colonoscopy or endoscopy (same thing I think). Prep for that test, which I have coming up in October, is not fun. But back to the bone scan. In preparation for the test this Thursday I needed to answer several questions. I'm happy to say I knew all the answers but I was brought up short when the lady on the phone asked me if I smoke or drink alcohol. My first impulse was to say no, which is still the correct answer for the smoking question, but then I remembered that I have been drinking a glass of red wine every evening after supper. Dr. Oz says it's good for me.  So I told the lady "Yes, I drink one glass of wine each evening." To which she responded "Uh huh." Such a skeptic. It's a good thing she didn't ask about my chocolate covered almonds habit.