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.