In the new house!

Moving day was quite exciting. We had a crew of at least 25 friends who came over and made the walk down one driveway and up the other to the new house. Not a very far move but it's like moving from the projects into Buckingham Palace.  I just finished my bedroom today and the only thing left to put in there is the Foux Fireplace to go with the new electric logs I bought a month ago in anticipation.

The finished bedroom:

Got the quilt on the wall (present from Dani a few years back) that I just love, cat play station which she ignores, and the recliner that I sleep in every night to I'm at enough of an angle for my breathing.

An old seascape from years ago but still in great shape and I like the picture.  The Lighthouse picture was a gift from a friend and it goes well with the seascape.

Last year for Christmas I got Mrs. Beasley the window perch so she could lay in the sun which comes streaming in there in the afternoon.

Looking down the hall way from my room . Olivia's room on the right and Bridgit's room at the end of the hall.

This alcove was done by the landlord to accommodate his son's guinea pig but now it's my work space and it's just right. 

Mrs. Beasley is enjoying the afternoon sun while it's still not such a burning sun. Later on this summer, it'll be too hot and I'll have the sun block shades up there. But it's comfy so she might like it anyway.

The hall way behind my head is where Bridgit has put all the pictures of herself and her daughter along with her siblings. 

Bridgit is hosting a House warming and a Thank you party for all the people who came and helped us move. It's getting a bit loud around here so I'm not going to try any more thinking. I may post some more after everyone leaves after the time around the fire pit that the new landlord gave to us. I guess he got a new one for his new house.

Talk to you later.

Moving Day

Tomorrow is moving day. We're moving into a house with all the amenities (wash+dryer), dishwasher, A/C that works, Stove that works in both top and oven, Heat in all the bedrooms, finished floors (not contaminated with excrement) and a fenced in yard with a doggie door for the puppy who isn't a puppy any more but still real small dog. We had to purchase our refrigerator when we moved in here, since the one that was here was contaminated with black mold so our frig will sit in the laundry room by the hot water tank. It's going to be great. And I'm starting seeds for my garden. It isn't going to be real big but at least I'll have one this year. And the strawberries are already green but no berries yet. There are several plants along the back fence and I might put a couple more in to fill it in. I understand I'll also have some pumpkins that her son planted and they will probably come back. There are containers of onions already to picked in the front yard but no one in our house likes onions. Guess I'll pull them and give them to daughter's boyfriend to see what he can do with them.

I can hardly believe our good fortune. And the best thing is we only have to move from one driveway to the next driveway with our dollies and a good crew to do the work. Their plan is to put the kitchen stuff over there first and me to put it away. With my lungs and bad hip, I wouldn't be much help any way and that way I'm out of every ones way. I'll put the dishes away and arrange the food in the new pantry, at least the food that doesn't fit  in the kitchen. I'm also going to make pizzas with the emphasis on the plural. It'll be the first time in 8 months we've baked. We do have a small portable "toaster oven" and a toaster too but couldn't do pizza or casseroles or cakes. Pans don't fit. Now we have a regulation sized oven so we can bake to our little hearts content, cakes, cookies, main dishes, fries in the oven and whatever else.

I think it's a crew of about 6 grown men and same amount of women along with some teenagers and our 'tween' who will be 12 in Dec.  And we will probably have to run down to Lil Caesars for their $5.00 ones if I run out of the homemade fixin's.

My TV will be back in business on Monday the 28th but the internet & phone won't be done until Tuesday the 29th in the afternoon. I will have an office nook in the hallway and out of the living room. Looks to be just big enough for my desk and one book case to put the printer on top of. Today my computer for some reason won't acknowledge the printer so I'm going to have to reinstall it after we get to the new house. Luckily I still have the disk that came with it, in one of the boxes that I've packed.

Anyway, this is going to be it until next week sometime when everything comes together at the new house. I'll have pictures to share of old and new.

Have a great weekend and God Bless everyone.

Our little 'Tween' who had a marvelous time at a RADCON convention. She helped with the Security team, running errands and such. They all adored her. The gentleman with her is the designer of some of the Star Wars costumes. 

Bridgit as R2D2 and the 'Tween' as Dead Pool. Haven't got a clue who that is. Haven't seen a Star Wars movie since the first one. And I can't remember whose quick page I used for this one but when I find out I'll fix the Post.

February is half gone and I've not been out here in the big world. And now it's March.

This has been a difficult year so far. The Slumlord we rent from doesn't want to invest anything in his property. He thinks because he's renting to us at a pretty reduced cost that we should fix all the things wrong. Why didn't we finish the bathroom walls and re-floor the bathroom? Bridgit told him it's his house and he's supposed to be doing that. Keep reading, it get's better!

Here's a little background: I'm a 76 year old Veteran, living with COPD and some other Nasty stuff, all of which are centered in my lungs. My Grand daughter worked her self into the ground getting this house ready for us. She worked the whole month of July, mostly by herself, painting, ripping out carpet, staining  the hardwood floors and sanitizing the floor in my bedroom where she ripped out the carpet. I have a Therapy cat' so the landlord (lives in Seattle a good 6 hr drive) said we needed to finish the floor in tiles because of the cat. Mrs Beasley has been spayed and de-clawed for 13 years now.

At this stage in her life, I think she's getting "Kitty Menapause". She is grouchy and very needy.  Grand daughter got rid of the urine that went thru the carpet with a spray of Hydrogen Peroxide and a little water. Boy did that fizzle all over the room. Had to do the floor about 3 times before she laid down the tiles. Human Urine fizzes more than animal urine although they do fizz also.
I picked out the tiles that looked like wood so my room actually looks like it's a wood floor. Quite pretty! Then I hung some pretty Sage colored sheers with a long scarf thingy and they match the sea foam green walls nicely. I don't sleep in there very much since it has a hospital bed with some some pretty saggy springs so it's very uncomfortable. But it looks nice. And Mrs Beasley likes the bed for her many naps.I have returned the hospital bed to the organization I got on loan from. The Knights of Columbus are a great organization. They sort of favor Veterans but I'm sure they loan things to other people too. And they accept donations of sick room equipment from anyone. I've told my family to give them my wheel chair, walker and whatever else isn't of use to them. Like maybe the chair in the tub so I can sit down to shower.

When the weather started to get colder in October and November last year Grand daughter sent the land lord an email telling him the 'Baseboard' heaters in the master bedroom and the small bedroom next to it didn't work. And the baseboard in the bathroom doesn't work either. She went back and forth with him about not having heat and winter setting in. He suggested heaters but that has sent the electric bill through the roof. He sent an electrician (certified electrician) and he crawled around under the house and found out that none of the thermostats are connected to the heaters in those rooms but the kitchen, the living room and my bedroom are working fine. When we got an electric bill over $500. bucks and the the rent is only a little bit more than that, we had trouble meeting both. So we paid the electric and part of the rent with me catching most of it. Then all of a sudden he said he was evicting us. At that point I started to pack my things. And he thinks the electrician is ripping him off saying it'll be $4,000. to bring the wiring up to code. The wires fall apart if you touch them.

He came down for the weekend at the end of last month to see how much "damage" we had done to his house. I don't know why he thought one old lady and one child with a mom was going to tear his house apart. After he inspected the house he could only say how nice the floors looked and the walls also. So he decided he wasn't going to evict us. We don't have a signed contract. We gave the only copy he signed to the electric company to change it over from his name to ours. He said he was working on some revisions so we weren't supposed to sign anything. Hence no mutual contract. He did give us the first and last months rent for Grand daughter's labor and my expenses in buying everything to do this fixer upper.

We had to buy a refrigerator because we found 'black mold' in the freezer of the one that was in here.
We told him the oven didn't work. His electrician that came out said he'd get the part to fix the oven and when it came in he'd be back to install it. It didn't get here until after the landlords visit so he said he'd fix it himself. He has a PHD in Micro Biology and he thinks women don't know much. Not what you should be saying to my Grand daughter. Well he pushed the stove out from the wall and started tinkering around. All of sudden we heard pop and smelled burning. The kids asked what was burning...his reply "Oh don't worry, that was just me" .  Four days later the electrician came by with the new part and said it wasn't going to be any good any way. After he looked in the back, he found out the landlord had 'fried' the computer piece  so the new part wasn't going to work but since he'd ordered it and paid for it, he put it in. Just can't use the oven until he buys a new circuit board for it which he isn't going to do. I have since discovered that after two days of his tinkering around here and there, that all he actually accomplished was to replace the light switch in my bedroom and sodered the little knob on one side of the the TP holder so it wouldn't fall onto the floor. I mean he should probably stick to his books on micro biology and leave the house fixing to someone else!

The A/C doesn't work either and last August we had some days where it was 104 degrees and me and my lungs had to go stay with friends or end up in the ER! In all of his tinkering, he cut the big 220 cord off the window A/C and covered it with plastic which he taped up with painters tape. Coming loose already. So there's no A/C for the up coming summer either.

I'm going to post this blog today and I'm just going to save it for when he tries to take us to court. With the electrical wiring in this house being at least 30+ years old and probably more, I'm arranging myself so that if a fire starts in this house, all I have to do is grab my cat and my Gr Grand Daughter and get out of the house with Bridgit. You see, I'm on Oxygen therapy and I have 4 large bottles of O2 and 12 small bottles of O2 which if engulfed in flames will more than likely become missiles going right through the roof and coming down who knows where. There's a sign on my front door...No Smoking, Oxygen in Use..

I should have the house condemned after I move out because we found out he had it listed for $133K when he rented it us. Maybe he thought we were going to do all sorts of  repair stuff and then he just sell it out from under neath us. He never told us it was listed for sale. He was expecting a lot from 3 females. We're tough and we won't back down from a fight but none of us know about electrical wiring or pluming for that matter.  He'll have to sell just the land because no one will pay for all the wiring and plumbing that needs to be done. And the Electrician who was going to do all the rewiring was under the house and in the attic and says there isn't any insulation worth mentioning left anywhere.

Luckily our neighbor on the right is moving to a new place that's 2 acres large so his son can have space to play or do whatever. He's agreed to rent us the house next door on McClellan. It's going to be a about $200 higher than we pay now but is't well insulated and the wiring in that house is newer since the owner is an electrician and has done all the work himself.  We'll make up the difference in lower utility bills. A $375 Electric bill on top of the rent was just way too much.  So we're moving right next door in 4 weeks and I'm going to get this house condemned so he can't rent it again until he actually fixes everything. I have a list of the things not working so I'll be happy to pass it along to whom ever comes by to look at it.

On a lighter note, here's a couple of scrapbook pages I've made since the first of the year.

Daughter Charlie at a New Year's Party.

My sister-in-law Joanne with her dog Bing Crosby.

She's such a lovely lady, I just love making scrapbook pages of her.

This is my very dear friend Moe who was an Airline Hostess back in the day and she shared this picture so I put it together with her newest one. 

This is little Serenity at 1 yr old she did enjoy having Christmas. She is still trying to chew up the Santa and the Snowman I put in her stocking. Neither one came with any stuffing so all she can do is chew off his face. Poor Santa.

Now I'm going to make some more scrapbook pages and in my next post, I'll tell you about my newest hobby and I'll have a couple of pictures to go with it.

Hugs to all from Grandma Sarge

Happy New Year (a little late)

Wow, it's been awhile since I've posted anything. Shame on me. The month of December was pretty full. Full of Doctor appointments, shopping, and just getting ready for Christmas.

As you can see, it's a pretty white tree with Red & Gold decorations. The Santa's on the book case are a very small selection of my collection (27+) but this house didn't have enough room.

My Christmas Choo Choo had to stay in the house because this house doesn't have any out side electrical outlets. "Stockings were hung on the bookcases with care" and when they got filled they all fell down.

Little Serenity behaved herself the whole time. Didn't go after the ornaments or the decorations on the floor. Pretty proud of her. She didn't like the Christmas sweater but she tolerates us.

These are some of my Snow People. Not all of them fit either.

I have been to the doctors and had more tests done. Besides a couple spots of Asbestos in the lungs, the dysfunction in the heart has progressed a little so I had to give up skiing (just kidding, I don't ski).

But we had a great time getting ready for the holidays and eating lots of great food. Got lots of neat presents, including a toaster oven which I'm absolutely thrilled with since the oven in this house doesn't work at all. 

Thank goodness it's only a rented house. We're making plans to relocate early this year.  I usually don't like moving in the winter but this one is actually necessary. Wall plugs that don't work, circuits blowing if you have 2 items on them and really the house hasn't been electrically refitted for more than 20 plus years so it's really due.Baseboard heaters don't work in 2 of the bedrooms so it's time for the Corbin girls to move on.

Here's the Christmas and New Years pages that I've gotten done. Don't ask what occupies my time 'cause I don't know how the days get gone on me and I haven't accomplished very much (as an English major in school, I didn't pay much attention I guess).

Darling Amyah in a page done with 'Merry Christmas' by Miriam's Scraps

Ashley with Olivia and again with Valerie. Page Christmas with the Countess by Kyra at Russian Dutch Heart designs.

Bridgit with her nieces Kaddie & again with Valerie. Page done with 'Home for the Holidays' by Baby Bear designs.

Daughter Charlie holding the New Years Eve sign which I corrected a little. Page done with 'funny New Year' by Butterfly Designs

My niece Consuelo and her grown up son Jonathan. Page done with 'White Christmas' by Miriam Zimmerman.

Sister in-law Joanne and their dog "Bing".  Page done with "Christmas with the Countess' by Kyra @ Russian Dutch Heart designs.

Joanne looking lovely in another page done with 'White Christmas' by Miriam Zimmermin.

I guess I got hung up on that White Christmas by Miriam Z'. This is Olivia at her 11th Birthday party in December so I already the Christmas kit and I used it.

My 3 girls hamming it up, Ashley, Olivia, & Bridgit. Page is "Cup of Cheer' by Raspberry Road designs.

I think I've been showing off for long enough. I'm going to do another one of my college classes. This one is  An introduction to C.S. Lewis: writings and significance. I can highly recommend the online courses from Hillsdale College in MI. If you just want to expand your mind (I'm warding off Dementia by keeping the mind active), I can recommend the Free courses on the Constitution, and a whole lot more. Just go to their web site and sign up, It's free: http://online.hillsdale.edu/dashboard/courses .

Hugs from Sarge!

December is here so our house is looking Christmasy!

Naturally the computer didn't like that word at the end of the title. But what does a computer know anyway..LOL.

I don't really have a lot to say except that we got 2 inches of snow one morning and something melted it all by the next morning. I'm really bummed by this but then I guess if I want snow all the time I have to move further North.  At least I got a picture or two but it wasn't even enough to make a snow man. Maybe later this month.

All the decorations are up inside the house but we can't put anything outside because we can't find a plug to use. And there isn't a porch out side the front so there's no where to hang anything anyway. I could put up the pictures I did from last year when the wind storm took my Santa train off the roof and we had to anchor him down in the Rock Garden.

I'm going to post the last of the pages I made in November even though it's now December.

A picture of my younger sister when her girls were really young. They are all grown up and one has a son in college and the other one has a son thinking about the service. Quite a long time ago. This was one of those Throw Back Thursday pics and I just had to snag it and do something pretty with it.

A picture of my lovely Sister-in-law Joanne with her precious dog Bing.

Joanne will pose for the camera if you ask. But she's so pretty who wouldn't ask!

Beautiful Olivia's 5th grade picture. Can you tell she had her hair dyed Blue & Pink?

We caught her sleeping before the movie they watching was even finished.

As you can see, this was Olivia's sleep over during a vacation period when other parents had to get up the next morning for work. We didn't so it was a fun evening.

That's it for today. I don't have any new pictures and I've been on the internet getting some freebies from the great designers who contributed to a World Wide Christmas train. It's always fun to see the different ways each country celebrates the holiday. We just have a grand time and we'll go the Christmas Eve Mass and one of the churches has a live presentation with horses, camels, sheep and live people.  Then there is the displays that people put up in their yards and some are tuned to music which means the lights are bouncing around and one place out side of town has a good half acre we can drive through and around under the lights and listen to music. They just post which radio station to tune in to and it's really quite a show. I tried to upload one of the videos I made when we were driving around and stopped to watch a house that was really light up and we were listening to the music on our car radio while the lights were just going all over the yard!

That's all for now. HUGs from Grandma Sarge!

Part 2 of Wow! It's November

I guess I forgot to tell you about the Birthday Party that Bridgit put on for me. Since my birthday comes so close to Halloween, the house was decorated in Witches, Ghosts and such. Pumpkins down the front steps all lite up. Instead of a regular cake we had cupcakes that Bridgit decorated so cute. And now I'm 76 years old. Doesn't feel that old today!

Only 3 of my 5 Great Grand kids. David's had some pictures done of his 3 kids and they are growing so fast, one has to take lots of pictures before they fade away.

I guess I used the same picture twice I think. Yes I did, didn't I. This is Kadence, Aayden and Dominic.

A picture of my handsome youngest brother George and his lovely wife Joanne with their dog Bing.

I was playing with the Photoshop program and I took Olivia and Kaddie out of the picture they were in and put them elsewhere. 

Olivia with her doggie Serenity who was a bumble bee for Halloween.

Olivia has a great time with her hair color. Her mother does it for her. This one was blue/Teal in front and purple in the back.

Here's little Serenity all ready for Halloween.

This is what the living room floor looked like while the girls carved their pumpkins. Bridgit got a long table cloth from the 'dollar store', spread it out and this way all we did was pick it up after they were done and roll it up and throw it away. No Mess, No Fuss!

Well that's all the pictures I've done in the last 3 weeks. Now I'm waiting for Thanksgiving which will be here at my house. Funny too! Since the oven on my stove doesn't work, Bridgit has to take the Turkey to her friends house and cook it and then bring it back here. I've decided that sweet potatoes can be done in the slow cooker, and everything else will be cooked on the stove. 

WOW! It's November already!

I feel like the old man who went to sleep and woke up 20 years later! The year has gone by so fast and I don't think I did nearly half of what I expected to do. Now it's not enough time...Guess it'll have to wait for next year.

October was a strange month. Every time I looked on FB another relative of mine was having a birthday so I sent them a Jacquie Lawson card and wished them much happiness. I had 7 family members get a year older, one day I sent a "Souped' card which had recipes inside to 15 friends, and then I posted about 5 Halloween posts with her cards. I just love them.

Halloween was fun time for the younger set. They went out Trick or Treating. I stayed home to give out candy...only had about 4 or 5 kids come around.  Olivia went to her friends house and spent the night,  Ashley and Bridgit went to Alan's annual party. They were dressed as Rosie the Riveter from WWII. I didn't dress up but I gave away candy!

I spent Nov 1 &2 in the critical decision unit. I went in Sunday evening with some pretty intense chest pains so they kept me over night.  I had the chemical Stress test on Monday about 11:00 am and everything looked fine. I'm going to the Cardiologist tomorrow so he can tell me more about the stress test.  And then on Tuesday I get a visit with my Primary Senior doctor!  I'm still working on getting some special medical coverage for the lungs and if the cardio doc can authenticate it as being caused by the overworking of the heart due to the lungs going to pot. And it's all from working in the Nuclear Industry.

Well now it's time to show the pictures of Halloween and I had really enjoyed the beautiful fun kits I picked up from my many talented Graphic designers.

My Great Grandson Aayden really got into the season this year. He was 4 on Oct 1st.

Alan who threw the party and all the adults had to be dressed up. 

Amyah is the cutest little pumpkin who was a Pirate this year. 

I had to play with my Christmas kit that came early. I put little Amyah in a Snow Globe.

I just can't resist when I find a picture of Amyah on the internet. I have to fix it up!

My Grandson and his friend with their daughters. 

This is the two Rosie Riveters! Bridgit and Ashley.

Lorene G. has the prettiest little girls. Ashley is a 'Chef' and Kaddie is growing so fast, I can't keep up. The right hand picture is Kaddie and her sister Mia. 

Bridgit had a great time at the party!

"Z" is playing football this year and his biggest fam is his baby sister!

Christina and her cousin Joci look like sisters. Here they are with "Z" and his little sister ready to go on on Halloween!

"The Country Mercantile"  has a very large Pumpkin Patch and an equally large Corn Field that they  cut into a really neat maze. The kids got to pick their own pumpkins and Daddy got to pay for them. They played around on the Hay Stacks and had a great time.

I'm going to put the rest into another Post.