Life's New Rhythm

I am establishing a whole new rhythm to my life and I have to let it happen. Nothing forced. So far so good, although I would like more days of bike riding.

I haven’t been able to take part in many water aerobic sessions since I moved here. Appointments with carpenters, electricians, doctors and my physical therapy sessions, all seemed to fall on Tuesday or Thursday mornings.

This morning there wasn't a session, so I went to the pool and did laps. I lost count but I think I did somewhere in the neighborhood of a dozen the long way. Granted this isn't a big pool, but I'm not used to swimming. I did rest a minute or so after each lap, and that's OK. The last time I did laps it was only 5. So I've doubled the number and then some. Now I have to work on doing them without resting in between. For someone with COPD (like me) this is great exercise and the more I can do the better for my breathing.

Just let it flow; let it happen; enjoy the scenery along the way. There is no hurry.

The Disconnect of Wireless

I feel all discombobulated since I went wireless. I have my computer on the dining room table while the printer is in the basement. My office will eventually be in the basement, but that won’t be finished for several weeks.

I could bring my printer up here. I could bring my laptop down stairs.

I think the printer will come up here because the basement is not conducive to clear thinking right now with nothing in it’s proper place. It’s difficult to think when my surroundings are cluttered to a ridiculous degree.

This means the upstairs is about to get more stuff that it isn’t supposed to have, and that is going to bug me.

Can’t win.

Just as soon as the basement is finished…

The Drama/Trauma of Moving

Photos: On the left is the one I sold. On the right, one of these is what I bought. And because of that, the bottom photo shows that all my clouds have golden linings (better than silver).

Before I write anything I want it known I could not have done this without the help of Anne, Andy, Lori, Jess, Matt, Kathy, and Jonathan. Paul had just bought a house and was exempt from joining my chaos. And it truly was my ‘raggedey’s’ helping at every turn, that kept me sane.

The move was supposed to happen on May 18^th, but actually happened on the 21^st. I wonder what the numerologists would say about that? As a matter of fact, I will ask Pam Bell, numerologist extraordinaire!

The moving truck showed up a half hour early and loaded in 3 hours. The original estimate was for the loading to take 4.5 hours. So they are all loaded up by 10 a.m. and will not be able to unload until 3 p.m. Since time is money I was stressing out over a possible 3-5K moving costs.

In the meantime, Anne was coming in from MD at 11 a.m. I asked my friend, Pat, who lives close to the airport to pick her up, and I would meet Anne at Pat’s house. Once the truck was loaded and I did at least 5 walk-throughs, I headed off to pick up Anne. I arrived at Pat’s house just as Pat and Anne did. We chatted for a few minutes then Anne and I took off for the condo to do the final walk-through before closing.

We met my agent at the condo and went through. It was empty and reasonably clean. The moving crew was also there. We gave them the key and told them we would call when it was OK to start unloading. Since I had everything labeled as to what room everything should go, it would be no problem if I wasn’t there to direct everything.

I finally got to the condo around 4 p.m. and the guys were finished unloading by 5. What? It took them only 2 hours to unload? Hmmmm. They did have the key.

As we started arranging things into some semblance of order, Anne kept reminding me breath. I was wound way so tight I was barely breathing!

The bedrooms were set up, so, even though the rest of the condo was in total chaos, we could at least go to bed.

And so started a wild weekend.

Shopping, Shopping, Shopping!

I needed to go shopping…I needed: a washer and dryer (never had a set that matched before); living room area rug; dining area rug; small couch for living room; shower curtain for upstairs bathroom; and so much other stuff I’ve forgotten. Oh, one thing more…my Cisco wireless router.

Kathy came with us and at some point in Home Depot she couldn’t stand us any more (us being Anne and me) and she cut out. It had something to do with the way Anne and I would discuss what Anne thought I should have as opposed to what I knew I wanted. :)

On the way out of the store Kathy ran into her two brothers. “The mother and the sister are in there,” she cautioned. “If you see them, run in the other direction.” They did; and they didn’t. They regretted it! :):):)

I bought the washer and dryer at Lowe’s; the couch and living room rug at Bob’s Discount Furniture; the dining area rug at Pier 1; shower curtain and other stuff at Target. I had seen a rug in a Pier 1 flyer that came with the Hartford Courant one day. It had tones of rust, orange, brown, beige. That’s exactly what I wanted for the dining area. As we walked into Pier 1, there it was and it was on sale. Not necessarily the same pattern as in the flyer, but it was the colors I wanted. Once I get my living room arranged the way I want it, I will buy pillows for the couch in the colors from the dining area rug. Perfect tie-in.

Going Wireless

Now that I had the wireless router, it needed to be installed. Not by me! I have panic attacks just at the thought of installing software. I never know the answers to the questions! Anne offered to install my Lynksis but there were problems and she was unable to do the password protect part. I didn’t remember what name I gave my system so I never knew if I was on my wireless, or I was piggybacking someone else’s.

Bathrooms

Upstairs

How did I never notice the strong, musty smell in the upstairs bathroom? How did they disguise it…and…what is it?

Armed with a bucket of hot water, rubber gloves, industrial strength cleaner and a toothbrush, I attacked the upstairs bathroom hoping to get rid of the smell.

All I managed to do was diminish it.

The smell was coming from the area of the tub. Drain? Floor? Silly ‘splash preventing’ triangular piece of plastic?

Seemed to be worse overnight…I would put the bathroom exhaust fan on when I got up just to get the smell out.

So the search is on. Andy came over to cut a hole in the wall of the bathroom closet. We needed to see if the area under the tub was wet and moldy. Nope. Dry as a bone.

I managed to get the splash-guard off and…whoa…it stunk musty. Was this the source of mold? Andy scraped the goop that was left on the tub and tub wall and I scrubbed with cleanser and toothbrush. Hmmm. Not sure if that was the only source of the smell.

The next morning I knew it was not. The smell was still there…not as strong…but still there. That leaves only one place where it could come from…the floor…under the vinyl on the floor. Even though it is completely sealed, who knows how wet and stinky it was before the vinyl was put down.

I have a decision to make now. Do I continue spraying with air freshener? Gut the whole bathroom? Just rip up the offending portion of vinyl in order to de-mold the underlying wood? I would really like to gut the whole thing, but that’s a lot of money. It looks like it will be rip up, treat, and patch. There is a large piece of the same vinyl in the basement.

And the toilet got a new seat.

Downstairs

The half bath downstairs had a very strong, make-your-eyes-teary, smell. I finally located it on the floor of the sink cabinet. It looked (and smelled) like liquid soap (red in color) had spilled and left to evaporate. After scraping and attempts to deodorize, the smell is almost gone. Almost. I have a plan of attack to make it all gone. I will polyurethane the bottom of the sink cabinet. That should seal in whatever smell is left.

After scrubbing the toilet and sink, I washed the floor. I wanted it to dry quickly so I put the fan on it. It wasn’t drying. I ran my fingers over the floor (which is laminate) and it was oily. What? You don’t oil laminate flooring.

Here I go again. The industrial cleaner, washing rag and toothbrush went to work. After the entire bathroom was scrubbed…including the floor…I finally felt comfortable using it.

Oh! And new toilet seat here also.

Basement is next

On Tuesday, June 22^nd, Kurt and Jimmy are coming over to look at the basement and give me estimates on finishing it. Kurt is a builder and Jimmy is an electrician. I hope the money I have set aside for the basement is enough.

Once the basement is finished, the 3 bookcases and 17 boxes of book in my living room can go down in the basement and I can finish my living room as a living room…not a storage space.

Indoor Pool

One of the reasons I was interested in this complex was the pool…indoor pool. How great is that? I have been invited to join a group twice a week for water aerobics, and look forward to clearing my calendar Tuesday and Thursday mornings so I can actually get down there.

I did go swimming on my own one afternoon and it was pretty scary. I haven’t been swimming in decades and at first the water felt very ‘thick’ and hard to move through. J After I had done 4 laps the short way all the scary feelings had vanished and the water was ‘thinner’. I then did 5 more laps the long way. I felt pretty proud of myself. Can’t wait to do it again.

Physical Therapy

Through all of this, I have been dealing with an injury to my left arm, shoulder, neck, rotator cuff, and God knows what else. The cure, at the moment, is worse than the injury, but there is hope for complete resolution of the problem. All I have to do in the future is not be stupid! :)

Shhhhh

It is so quiet around here. Ahhhhh! I don’t hear my neighbors to either side…in fact the entire complex is super quiet. No hot rods, motorcycles, screaming kids or parents. There are kids in the complex, but I never hear them. One night I heard a siren…it was on TV.

I do hear an occasional jet from the airport across the river, and, sometimes the landing pattern changes in the early evening and they come right over the house. No big deal.

One thing I hear with regularity is the trains just the other side of the woods below my condo. I’m not far from the tracks and the river. I love the sound of the trains. I wait for the whistle at the two crossings. I heard them during the night the first night I slept here. If they have gone through at night since, I haven’t heard.

And thus ends the saga of my move from 7-room house to 2 bedroom condo.

Excuse me while I sit here and enjoy another beautiful sunset.

The Drama of Moving

Change is never easy and moving is probably one of the most intense changes you can make…outside of the transition from physical to spirit.

First
I decided last summer to sell the house. With my mother now in a nursing home, I don’t need a raised ranch. I contacted my realtor and we talked about what price I’d start with, and all the work I needed to do before the sign went up in front of the house.

I washed all the windows and planned and executed the tag sale. Unless you are into self-deprecation and pain, don’t bother with a tag sale. You can donate all that junk to various organizations and make more in tax reduction than you can trying to sell the stuff. I had to do the windows myself because there was no money to have them done.

Now the house is spic and span; furniture rearranged to make the rooms look their best; contract signed; FOR SALE sign goes up. The house should sell in a matter of a few days.

And so I waited
The house was on the market just short of 7 months. Had a ton of people looking at it, but they all didn’t like things I could do nothing about: too many trees (surrounded by woods), a corner lot, busy intersection, no hardwood floors.

Before the successful offer, I had one ‘almost’ offer and two offers that were whipped off the table almost as soon as they were made.

Now
I am surrounded by boxes even though my kids came over last Sunday to move boxes into the garage. The boxes that remain in the living area itself cannot be sealed yet. I have found that if you tape a box shut, what ever is in that box is something you will need. Pack it. Tape it. Need it.

I have run the last load in the dishwasher and am now ‘camping out’ in my own home. What ever I need for the next couple of days is used and washed…to be used again. Today I will use the microwave for the last time so I can wash and pack the glass tray. I have stopped using salt and pepper…because the shakers are packed.

I have one box set aside for my ‘survival kit’, which will contain my daily supplements, coffee pot, filters and coffee, toaster, and personal hygiene items. That will go in my car along with the stuff already there…3 lamps that are very old and dear to me…one is fragile. Also going in my car will have to be the cooler, which will hopefully keep my food frozen until I can put it into the freezer at the condo.

SNAFU and FUBAR
So we are all set to close on May 18th. Everything has been going along very well up to now. THEN! My buyer’s lender started to screw things up. They kept changing their story about what the hold up was and kept telling us the buyer was all set, the mortgage was assured but they had to get this one last piece of information. That one piece kept changing.

It wound up that the buyer had given the lender all the necessary information for contacting his employer(s) in another country. The lender was not successful using that information but DID NOT TELL THE BUYER. Once the buyer found out what the problem was he gave the lender an international phone number (which he could have given them to begin with, but he didn’t know it was a problem!). By now, it’s too late to close on the 18th. My mover was not happy about having to reschedule. Now that we have settled on Friday, May 21st, my mover is desperately trying to get a crew and truck for Friday morning. If all else fails, they will load me up Thursday night…which will cost me more $$.

If they load up Thursday night, I will sleep at a friend’s house and go to the airport Friday morning to pick up my daughter, who is flying in to help me settle.

If they load me up Friday morning, I will have to find a way to get my daughter from the airport, do a walk-through at the condo at noon and get to the closing on the condo at 3 pm. The closing on the house is at 1:30 pm but I will pre-sign and not have to attend.

Gives me a headache
I like everything to be orderly and happen when it’s supposed to happen with no hitches or delays. Life is not like that and moving, for sure, doesn’t come close.

I swear I will never move again…at least not in a conscious state! ☺☺☺

What’s next?
Moving into a townhouse in a complex that hopefully is quiet AND it has an indoor, year round pool. Speaking of quiet, one thing I look forward to is hearing the trains that are maybe a half mile to the west and between the complex and the CT River.

Of course there will be days of chaos to come until I have placed all the furniture to my satisfaction. It may mean getting rid of some of my stuff…that’s a decision for ‘down the road.’

It will be nice to have lamps again…right now I have one floor lamp with a bulb in it.

And so, I sit and I wait, because I still don’t know when the van will be here. Gives new meaning to Poe’s The Raven. NEVER MORE!

Nine Days and Counting

I am surrounded by a chaos of boxes…some taped shut and others with gaping maws waiting for sealing tape. I have to leave some boxes open because I still need to use, from time to time, what’s in them.

Right now my buyers are waiting for the underwriters to approve their mortgage. They have commitment from the bank, but the underwriters are holding everything up. This creates great stress. I have utilities that need changing; address change with the post office; washer and dryer to be delivered. The assumption is: it will go through and we will have closing on May 18th. Uh huh.

On a happier note, today is Mothers Day and I did hear from all my kids and one grandkid. Paul actually called from his fishing vacation in Maine. I’m a happy mom.

Speaking of happy moms…my mother has decided she wants to stay at the nursing home where she is, rather than try to get into one that will be one mile from my new condo. From my condo to where she is now is 11 miles one way. She understands the trade-off is that she won’t see me as often. Her response to that: some people don’t ever have someone come visit. So, seeing me twice a week as opposed to almost every day is still better than not having any visitors at all.

She says she’s comfortable with all the staff and other residents and that everyone treats her well. I don’t feel I can move her against her will.

The beat and the count-down goes on.

Don’t look for much from me in the next two weeks. I’ll be strung out like an over-tuned violin string (ready to snap!). You can catch me on Facebook, however. If I know you, just friend me. If I don’t know you, friend me and let me know you follow my blog. Otherwise I will ignore your request.

Update on my rotator cuff
I not only have the rotator cuff problem, I have tendonitis. It's the tendonitis that's causing me the pain. So I am taking the ibuprofen 3 times a day and trying to remember to use the ice pack. I can't stop what I need to do, so the discomfort will have to amuse itself.

Slightly Torn Rotator Cuff

Is that like being slightly pregnant?

Yep! I did it. Too soon old, too late smart. I do believe that is an old Hawaiian saying Arthur Godfrey used to say.

Some time in mid to late March I picked up a plastic bag of groceries that was way to heavy…should have used two hands and cradled it in my arms to carry up stairs. Should have. Hindsight is 20/20 vision. Instead I carried it from the garage and up a flight of stairs to my kitchen with my arm fully extended.

DON’T DO THAT!

A few hours later I had this pain that would fire down my left arm…sometimes in the upper arm and sometimes in the lower arm. The best was when it fired in both at the same time.

I’ve had this before and my chiropractor has always been able to make it go away with adjustments. This time she did all she could and told me I needed to get x-rays to determine the damage.

I saw an orthopedist…and now I know. Slight tear in the left rotator cuff.

I had choices as to how to treat it. 1) do nothing and let it heal over several months; 2) take 400 mg ibuprofen 2 to 3 times a day for 2 weeks; 3) a shot of cortisone. He never mentioned therapy or surgery. Therapy I would do. Surgery…not on your life! What I did choose is the ibuprofen.

To be honest, it doesn’t make a difference…at least not yet. I have opted for 2 times a day since why take something 3 times if it isn’t working anyway. (Why take it at all?)

As far as what I have to do in order to move, well, that doesn’t stop. I pack and move boxes and actually, I feel better when I am actively moving my arms around. It’s afterwards that the pain comes on like an angry bear…and then subsides.

Oh, well. That’s life and it doesn’t stop for a slightly torn rotator cuff and a little arm pain. ☺

Extraordinary Day for a Bike Ride

Photos: (click on photo to enlarge, then click again and see if it will enlarge again)
Left: Dogwood
Right: Look at the top of this broken off tree. Is that the work of a beaver? Pretty high up and looks like a peg.

Temps in the 80s, brilliant blue sky, slight SW breeze and you know I’m hitting the road. Decided to ride the Windsor Locks/Suffield canal bike path.

I spotted a blue heron, but before I could get the camera out it flew away. Darn! Other birds, red winged blackbird and Baltimore Oriole were the most vocal. Didn’t see the Orioles, but heard them all over the place.

There was evidence of beaver activity right next to the path on the canal and river sides. That’s most unusual. Look at the photo at the top. Can't believe a beaver got that high, even in spring flood.

Flowers in bloom include: native and invasive honeysuckle, pepperbush, dogwood, buttercups, clover, and chicory. Absent was Shadblow. It is said: when the shadblow blooms the shad are running. Should be blooming and running by now.

Not too many people using the path which made for a nice ride and the opportunity to stop and talk to people.