Progress Report

Things are moving along slowly. The painters are STILL here. They told me four days but that was totally unrealistic! They are expecting to finish next week. That's cutting it close. I have an appointment with the realtor to list it on Thursday and I have massive amounts of cleaning to do before it's ready to show. They are making quite a mess as they go. They haven't started on the outside yet so I think they'll still be working past Thursday.

I still have boxes to pack and stuff to move to the garage, too. I'm up to 84 boxes. But my storage unit is full so I'm going to have to rearrange the garage to get more in there. I'm not paying for two storage units. I refuse!

It cost $660 so far to get the pool working. One of the kids left the pump running when we went away for a few days and it burned out. Some part for the heater is on order and we'll be back in business. Another $300 though!

And the foundling yellow lab, Buddy, has heart worms. I took him in for all his shots and his test. I had a feeling he probably would have them since he had been so neglected. And he's a big, beautiful dog. 86 lbs of love... such a shame. But I'm not doing the arsenic treatment just yet. The vet recommended starting him on heart worm preventative for a couple of months and retesting him. The preventative will kill off any new worms and the adults will die off eventually. If he doesn't have a big load, he could be cured by just staying on the preventative. Otherwise, he'll have to go through the arsenic and that is so hard on them. He has an appointment for neutering in May. Hopefully, he'll be well enough to go under anesthesia. He has been chipped as well so if he gets lost again, I hope someone brings him back. He is turning out to be an expensive free dog!

I'm a little worried with all these expenses pouring in. I don't get any money from 31 March to as long as 15 May. Both my severance package pay and my unemployment don't kick for several weeks. I've been paid every two weeks for most of my adult life. So I'm going to have to budget myself for the first time for six weeks! Yikes!

We meet Mac's new adoptive case worker next week. I hope she's open to the idea of letting Mac move with me to Nebraska. I've gotten the process started to transfer my foster care license to NE. But I haven't convinced anyone in TX or NE to move him there, YET!

His last day of school will be 2 June. Jacque and I will go to

Florida to do the training for our business from 3-5 June. Then back home to load the trucks on 6 June and start for Omaha. I'm starting to get excited about the change. I already know I'm going to miss my friends and TEXAS but I'll make new friends. I'll probably never consider myself a Nebraskan. I'll have to learn to be less of a Texan somehow. Or at least less "braggy" about Texas! Hard to do... hard to do...

My last official function for Shell will be Tuesday. I'm going to do two back to back training sessions and I'm really ready to have it over with. I love doing these things but I have so many other things going on right now, I'm ready to be loose and working 100% for me and the new business.

Spring was here for a few days but it's cold and rainy today. I'll have to blanket the horses tonight! We had a picnic in the park yesterday. Now I know how Denver feels.

The Magic of Being Six

The kids helped me feed the horses tonight.

Tisa: Savanah, put some oats in the buckets.

Savanah: What's oats?

Tisa: Those little white things right there. Your oatmeal is made out of those, too.

Savanah: EWWW, we eat horse food! ? !

Tisa: Stop running! Stop running! STOP RUNNING!!!!

Mac: We're not. We're power walking!

One of the horses was bucking and playing and you know what!

Mac: EWWW, did he eat beans!??!

Always good for a laugh... only reason we don't kill 'em I suspect!

Fresh paint

The painters arrived today, two days late but they're here. I wish I spoke more Spanish so I could call BS on whatever the excuse was... beats me what he said!

House smells. Buddy, the Labs's tail is whiter... not sure what he helped 'paint'.

Still lots of work to be done, inside and out, before I'm ready to list it. And cleaning!! But I'm anxious to get it on the market and get it sold. I hope all these people will be rushing to use their stimulus money in April!

I agreed to do a final set of lunch and learn sessions on " Trust" for Shell before I depart. Going to take some Academy Award level acting to remain professional since I have fairly strong feelings of how trustworthy many leaders were in recent years. But I'll manage and go out with good reviews.

And speaking of poor leaders, I was deeply saddened to hear that a female Navy Captain was relieved of command. Accused of assault on her crew and misuse of authority (walking her dogs!). She did all military women a disservice with her conduct if it's true. Knowing how long these things take before someone is relieved, it probably is true. I hope she is able to learn and live a better life.

What a mess...

I think in the last posting I said the house was all under control. Oh NO!! It's not!

My wonderful daughter came down from Omaha on her spring break from school and packed with me for the last ten days. We filled one 12 X 10 ft storage unit, my two car garage and hauled about six pick up loads to the charity shop. Not done yet and the painters are coming this afternoon to start painting the interior but we did get a ton of work done between her social engagements! She had a lot of friends to visit and spent some time with her Dad. All good... she won't come back here very often when I leave, I suspect. I think I'm going to have to rent another storage unit to put in a few more pieces of furniture but we'll see what the realtor thinks.

It's amazing the things you find when you clean out closets and drawers. And so many projects unfinished.... scrap books, photo albums, sewing, crafts, you name it, I've not finished it!

And little surprises the children have left. Mystery stains and spills. One billion broken crayons, leggos and toy pieces. When I think of what all that cost, I'm nauseous. I didn't find nearly enough change to cover it!

Update on my son, too. He's being medically discharged from the Navy on March 31st. That's my last day on payroll, too, so we'll be officially unemployed on the same day. (Actually, his wife hasn't found a job in Omaha yet and Jacque was let go from her job so we're just making it unanimous!) He's heading straight from Corpus to Omaha for a VA medical evaluation. He timed that just right to avoid helping with all this mess! He's smart like his father.

Off to put more stuff in boxes...