6:59 am........storming hard.

now they need firewood, wienies, roasting sticks, marshmallows and people........i would like to be a people that gets to help inaugurate their new backyard happy spot! i am so designery that i want to move the pieces about and add throw pillows to the mix!!!!  sheez.......

 

yes, my tv is out, satellite, netflix.......all done in by the storm.  so early, my plan today?  go swimming........but i promise i'll find something to do.  debra needed a shower chair, so i went on Next Door to see if anyone in my area had one gathering dust........got an answer from Beth.  went to her home yesterday to pick it up, Next Door makes it possible to be neighborly with the neighbors in your area.......Beth lives just past Midway Church, so about ten minutes from my front door to hers.

 

she has a lovely home.....we connected well.  she let me see the guest room she just decorated, it's soooo pretty!  she used blue and white as her primary palette and added touches of yellow for fun........i want to be a visitor in that room.  she started with a small navy desk and chair she found at an antique shop in Monroe Ga, she got both pieces for $30.  sweet dealing on her part!  she found pretty blue glassware to enforce her color scheme......has a really pretty comforter with a variety of pillows for texture and fun.  loved it all!

 

she lost her husband not very long ago.........and misses him very much, the sadness never quite leaves her eyes, but she has a strong faith that will carry her through.  she's only lived out in auburn for two years and is working at getting out more......she suffers with some health issues, Rheumatoid Arthritis and has some kind of nerve damage in her hands that causes them to have tremors.......she loves creating things with photoshop.......antiquing, she's gaining in confidence with her own decorating abilities.  former air force, she and her mate spent a lot of time in Sacramento Ca before relocating here........i liked her very much.

 

so being me....um yeah well out we go to my car......the infamous Geezermobile, nicknamed "the Geez" with a hard G......despite her advancing years (she's a 2003 model) she looks really good, silver exterior just like my hair.......lol......anyway i pop the trunk open to receive the shower chair for Deb and there it is.......a BIG BAG of MY TRASH.  well crap........so embarrassing, so like me to do something ditzy......

 

so she says i only have one bag of trash a week now, let me add it to my trash so it won't be so lonely........ahhhhh!  she's a sweetie mcpetie!  i like her fanciful nature........when i first came into her home she said she loves yellow and her mate loved blue so when she came in the main room of her new home and saw that it was a soft green she thought it's a combination of the two colors that she and her hubby loved most.........there's that sweet streak.  she is the mother of four.........whoa.  she said they tried and tried for ten years to have children and then all of a sudden the babies came every two years...........life got wild and fun and they never looked back.  they loved being parents, loved the noise and the craziness and all the fun of raising their babies!

 

she is 61, so we're close in age.....i'm wondering if God has sent me this new friend as Debra is moving just far enough away that we won't be seeing each other as much.  beth and i made lose plans to go antiquing in Statham and Monroe soon.  Hope we do! 

 

debra is very excited about her new place.....can't wait to get in.  her new roommate Barbara is exactly her age, 69.  they like a lot of the same things......i'm happy for her.  i pray they will get on well, that their connection will thrive.  Barbara has a lot of family and they love to celebrate everything, so I think Debra will enjoy being a part of all that!

 

the rain is impressive!  i am sleepy.......i had a gut reaction that my home would sell well now, met with two agents yesterday.  my home will now sell at a profit and probably sell in under a week if i list it.  holy um holy moly.........not totally prepared just yet, time for me to hunt costs for an apartment or a duplex or something somewhere to see what i really should do.  it's currently a seller's market in my area........things have been upside down financially real estate wise in my area for a long time and now it's time...finally.  but again before i list i need to have somewhere to go........i'm prepared and yet totally unprepared.  leaving one's home is process......both mentally and physically.  i recently got my garage organized, donated a ton of stuff to Goodwill.......then went through an upstairs closet......you should have been here that day, i was tossing big bags of cotton down the stairs.........Rio was going crazy talking about it........took 14 bags to Goodwill.  I still have another clothes closet to sort out upstairs and a very full linen closet.  plan to yard sale the bulk of the linen closet items.......and yes i am embarrassed that i had that many clothes from that many decades of styles.........placing picture of self on the wall of shame!

 

i gotta tell you i was preparing for these agents to tell me all the reasons it wouldn't sell or all the things i needed to do, but it wasn't like that at all.......they said i should get the gutters cleaned out, get the home pressure washed and paint the front porch trim.......so it's what i thought needed to be done..........but i thought they would tell me to rearrange things or pack things up.......they told me my home will show really well........feels like the stars in the universe are aligning for me to move maybe....????? my son and daughter think so.....but gotta get a PLAN of ACTION first!

 

the agents also said i didn't need to do a thing to list it.........to go ahead and put it on the market.  that everything undone could be negotiated......... to list it NOW. sounds like they need the inventory stat! a big difference from the past 8 years of waiting for things to turnaround!

 

hmmmm, the second realtor has a client in mind.  a truck driving dad who needs a home in Auburn to be close to his six year old son.......his child's mother teaches school and both parents want to be close to their little boy.  ya gotta know this is tugging at my heart strings........the agent said he'd lost out on several homes due to bidding wars...........sooooo crazy, last year an agent said i'd be lucky to get $ XXX, now they both tell me i can list my home for $30,000 to $40,000 more.........that blows me away.  that seems kind of crazy........but that money will help me live longer, can't turn my back on that plan of action!!!! want to feed the nest egg and make it nice and fat for the years ahead, i took a big hit financially in 2008 on my retirement funds and then had to stop working due to my health problems so i never got to recup the lost money........which made retirement look pretty scary.  this sale could be such a godsend........but now to figure out where and how and what and when and oh my goodness. 

 

the med is doing a lot to give me a lot more life........my life has changed pretty dramatically these last months.  from facing so much pain that i was upside down daily to where i'm at currently.  i'm not well but i'm not as sick by a long shot. i don't know how long it will last but i promise to make the most of these days........as many memories as i can.  to try to be good when i need rest........not push so hard.  the fact that i could redo that furniture is a huge testament to how much my life has changed.  i was able to clean, sand, prep and paint that furniture......including the painting of those cushions.  it took me weeks to do it, but i did it.  amazed that i could........

 

the cushions on the seats used to be white with beige and black stripes......thanks to the automotive spray paint i found with flex finish they are now navy blue, just like my daughter wanted......crisp white wicker with pretty blue cushions. it was my idea to turn the coffee table into added seating by adding the tomato red cushion......we're Americans, why not celebrate the red, white and blue!!!

 

i think there is a prepacking party at the church today for Kayla's Kit's.  Kayla's Kits is an organization that makes kits for foster kids of all ages.  today we'll sort all the items donated/purchased/etc for the kids into boxes.  then on august 4th we'll put the right age items into bags for each child in need.  excited to get to help do this for the second year in a row.

 

when deb and i volunteered at the museum this week she made us honey ham & cheese sandwiches on some really good bread.  she also brought along pickles, celery and melon mixed with blueberries.  i brought the low sodium chips and treats......she got to choose from oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, strawberry wafer cookies and swiss cake rolls.  we went all in and had a picnic feast in the museum...........!  then i surprised her with a manicure.  she was reluctant at first and i said if i don't give you a manicure i'll snore the afternoon away, i need help to stay awake while we're sitting in all this old stuff!!!!!  .......she called me last night to say she can't stop looking at her hands.......how pretty they look! 

 

ahhhhhh, we all need pampering and rarely get enough........i like to do girly girl stuff like that......it's relaxing and it also invites confidences while the manicure happens.  we had a really good talk............so while we're up to our elbows in cuticle creams, orange sticks, filing and lotions a photographer comes in to the museum.  her name is leeann.....she is the photographer for the barrow county historical society and is working with our city staff to cross market both the winder and auburn museum.........cool!  we apologize for the manicure station, offer to move it but she insists we are not in her way. 

 

then she takes photos of the two of us......i said i bet this IS history, the first manicure ever in a historical museum .....lol!!!  we don't like getting photo shot at.........debra like me is very camera shy.  i don't know why i'm like that just that i've always been that way.......weird but true.  but leeann wouldn't give up so deb finally gave in and turned her face toward the camera. 

 

my glands are very swollen, my neck feels so stiff, but the rain has slowed almost to a halt...........so quiet all of a sudden.......whoa. silencio! 

 

my hands and feet get so cold so easily........for so long i rarely had problems with reynauds syndrome any longer and now being on prednisone i have them all the time.  so cold i have to get up and get a shower to warm up my extremities.........trade offs are always a part of our lives.

 

so sleepy........time to go back to bed, it's almost 8 am...........love to all,talk again soon! hhhhhuuuuuggggggsssss! 

 

p.s. our state's LT. Gov is coming through our town tomorrow to campaign.......hmmm, maybe i could do that??? such a random thing for an unpolitical sparrow like me to do, but right now i want to do any and everything i can just because it's out there.......because it's a part of life.  this is the longest i've ever been in a remission like state since i was 41......... i'm trying to make the most of it every day for as long as i can.  so despite the symptoms i'm still all in and gonna keep doing til i clunk over........i've had days where i had to lie low, but i've had so many goooooood days.........feeling blessed.