Already, I'm falling behind

Well it is officially autumn now. Time to dig out the sweaters, the rakes, the Halloween decorations. A friend of a friend on Facebook insists it isn't really fall until it's cold enough for her to wear socks. I'm still walking around in flip-flops myself.

With fall comes Election Day. Being an odd year, there probably aren't any national issues to decide. Ohio isn't voting for governor, but Cleveland is voting for mayor. Also on the ballot is the Metroparks levy, Issue 80. Ken and I sat at the Metroparks table last Sat at the Ingenuity Fest, encouraging voters to pass the levy. (And, yes, I wore socks! It was cold!)

Looking back on my original blog, it seems like I was falling behind then too. But the seasons were nicely reversed. Thinking about spring then...

Spring is Coming! 3/9/10

After what, for some, has been a brutal winter, it looks like spring is trying to get here. Yay! Here in Cleveland, we’re on a roll with the sunshine – six days in a row! Though I haven’t seen a robin yet (where are they? I always see one before the end of Feb.), the flowers are bravely sending up shoots out of the snow. And Daylight Savings Time starts on Sunday, another herald of nicer weather.

One of my Facebook friends is excited about the pending arrival of spring – the local ice cream shop opened for business. Of course, this is the same friend who dreamed last night that we were hit with one last snow storm; this one dumped six feet (that’s 72 inches!) of snow on us poor unsuspecting souls! He said he’s glad that not all dreams come true. Amen!
My thermometer sits in the sun at this time of day. Too bad; otherwise I could convince myself that it’s 60 degrees outside, instead of the actual 46. I’ll take 46 though; it means the snow is melting. Maybe the drifts will be gone before July after all!
Happy end-of-winter!

Missing Out or Cashing In

Ooooh, I had such plans for today. Ken and I were going to Akron to attend the PD Boot Camp which is an all-day session involving research, dance, exercise, yoga, social services, and speech pathology. I went to bed at a decent hour, but Ken's snoring kept me awake most of the night. I wasn't prepared to drive to Akron at 8 AM on only 3 hours of sleep. So I missed out on the chance to get together with other Parkies.

Last weekend was a good one! We went to Columbus on Friday so I could talk to the folks at Green Lawn Cemetery about buying a lot. Then on Saturday we went to Grandpa Ken's granddaughter Brielle's first birthday party. Sunday, we went to church at Hilliard UMC to listen to an old friend preach, then to Westerville to my brother's for a cookout. Good weekend all the way around.

My 3-year-old blog post for today relates the ultimate in cashing in - the purchase of the house.

Can You Say “Phew?!”, 2/25/10

First came the great news: the attorneys for Fannie Mae dismissed the eviction case! Then came more good news: we placed an offer on the house and it was accepted! All the purchase papers have been signed, and now I start the financial process. Phew!

A Great Bargain?

Somewhere in this tribute to myself, aka blog, I'm sure I mentioned the purchase of a "new" used car, a Honda CR-V, and what a great deal I got. I probably didn't mention that I was reluctant to purchase the first vehicle I looked at. And now I know why. In the first month of ownership, I have had the car into the shop to get the compressor replaced and the AC charged, got a second key programmed, got the remote programmed, the headlights rewired, had the airbags checked, had to get a jump start, had the battery's wires tweaked, and the leak in the fuel line repaired. Some bargain.

Court Again, 2/9/10

For those who have been following my little (??) drama, Ken and I went to court yesterday. Ours was the first case on the docket; a good thing – we didn’t have to sit and stew any longer than needed. The attorney for Fannie Mae was missing a document, so the magistrate gave us a 2-week continuance. That gives us 2 weeks more to try to get the house bought. Keep those fingers crossed! Till next time…

And So it Starts

Starts: 1. a battle with my Honda service center over my door locks, pretty much resolved
          2. a battle with Ken to get the grass cut, even bought a new mower, pretty much resolved
          3. back to school for most districts, including Kristen's, haven't talked to her yet to hear how it went
          4. dragging my heels about writing another blog post, wondering if anyone reads this
          5. packing for a long weekend visiting family, packing sucks, but the visit will be nice
          6. my body having dyskinesia, the uncontrolled movement of a muscle group, sucks and is not resolved

As you will read, two of Ken's brothers had major starts of their own in Jan 2010. Puts my list to shame.

Court and Cancer, 2/6/10

We’re less than 48 hours now till our day in court. I’m trying to stay positive. Appraisers have been here, attorneys called, but it’s still in the magistrate’s hands.
Then to add to the stress, we’ve found out in the past couple of weeks that two of Ken’s brothers have cancer. Cy had to have a kidney removed, and George has cancer in his lymph nodes, maybe under his tongue. I’d ask you to please keep them and their families in your prayers. And so it goes… Till next time…

Procrastination

Today I'm thinking of that ugly word, procrastination. Ugly, because it has so many negative connotations. It comes from the Latin prō- meaning forward, and crāstinus meaning of tomorrow. So how did such a potentially up-beat word end up meaning to postpone or delay needlessly, or to use the dictionary, to put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness.

I have been procrastinating about my role in remodeling the kitchen. It's my job to paint the cabinets and their doors. Last fall, I started the doors, in hopes that seeing them would inspire (motivate?) Ken to do his part, which involves taking down the cabinets, replacing the wall, and putting in a new countertop, sink and dishwasher. Suffice it to say that no one has worked on the kitchen in a year.

Why do we procrastinate? Is it that the job looks too big, so we put off starting it? Or maybe it's a much-detested task, one that we postpone indefinitely in the hopes that someone else will do it for us. Or, maybe, we're just lazy.

What's next? Part II

Well, I just had to ask. As I said previously, the winter of 2009/2010 left a lot to be desired. But let's start with more current days. Not that there's anything wrong going on. I just want to share some of the good stuff.  :-)

Ken and I actually went on a date two nights in a row! That never happens! On Wednesday, we went to a concert at Cain Park which is an amphitheater on Cleveland's east side. We listened to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy play lots of swing and jazz music. I watched a few couples get up and dance. The band was great! They've been together 20 years with all of the original members. As the lead vocalist said, "It's like being married to eight different guys at once!"

Last night, we went out to dinner at Red Robin. Ken had a certificate for a free burger that he got for his birthday. If you've ever been to Red Robin, you know that one of their burgers would normally make two meals. Add "bottomless" fries and Freckled Lemonade and the Browns pre-season game on TV, and you have the makings of a fun night out.

Speaking of the Browns, I don't know if they won or lost last night - the score was 10-0 in favor of the Browns when we left - but we heard the Goodyear blimp go over the house before the game. We didn't know they were playing at home, but figured something was up when we saw the bumper-to-bumper traffic going north on I-77. The skyline looked like a postcard for what's good in Cleveland when we went home. The sun was setting, the blimp was silhouetted against the sky, the steel mills were belching their fire, and Terminal Tower and the Key Bank buildings stood as sentinels over all of it.

OK, back to the winter of what next. The post is short but says a lot in a few words.

What’s Next? (I just had to ask, right?) 1/23/10

So I left us all with the all-important question last time: What’s next? Damn if I didn’t get some answers.
Ken is out of his splint and in a regular cast now. He’ll be in it another 5 weeks or so, longer if he doesn’t follow orders and stay off of it.
On Jan 4, we were served a 3-day notice to vacate the house or face eviction. Reading back, I realized I hadn’t explained what was going on. Our landlord lost our house to foreclosure, and the new owner, Fannie Mae, wants us out. So we have a court date, Feb 8, and I guess we try to ask for more time due to my PD and Ken’s ankle.
Part of the problem is I want to be looking and Ken wants to buy and stay. I’m not sure we can buy in 2 weeks. I’ll keep you posted as long as I can.