BBQ prep

Tom asked me to move the car into the garage off the street to make room for guests arriving. I tell Riley to go move the car. It is good practice. Tom says to me that the car is at a bad angle, I should do it myself. All I hear is how Riley needs to learn how to drive, but it must be by osmosis since he really doesn't want Riley behind the wheel of a car that he owns.

Being the good mom that I am I force Riley out of the house and in my apron, go with him to sit in the passenger seat to give him encouragement so he can pull away from the curb, turn around in a neighbor's driveway and approach from the angle he and Tom prefer. Such a simple task, putting the car in the garage, but so much patience and time on my part to train that boy. Once parked, I race back into the house to finish cleaning for the party.

Trevor took off this morning to do a free babysitting job so he could be gone with a good excuse and not have to help with the chores of getting ready to have guests for dinner. Riley wished he was gone also, I had him running things up and down the stairs to be put away properly. He hid the laundry in his closet. I will eventually have to dig it all out of the hiding place so everything can be put away properly, but right now it is all hidden from view. 

NibbIes

I have had some nibbles on the old house. A few inquires. Mostly Realtors fishing for a listing. I had one inquiry for a lease to own, when I responded he turned out to be another Realtor fishing. Sigh.

I have one nibble now I am corresponding with. I told her I needed a pre approval letter that she could afford the cost of the house, before I made the appointment to show it. No reason to bother the tenants with a showing if the shopper isn't really serious or is just rubber necking.  Besides I can confirm credit worthiness if the client is pre approved.

News says closings are down this month. Everything is stagnant. Everyone is probably waiting for the elections in November.  It is nice to see interest at all in the listing. I will keep plugging right along.

Meanwhile, I am going to search for yellow oak to put down in the family room. the odor of pee is excruciating now that I steamed the carpets. I seem to have raised up some serious trouble in trying to clean the carpets. Luckily it is summer, so I can leave the doors open during the day to bring in fresh air.

Cleaned the carpets

I hate carpets. I have been letting the dogs out the family room door. Over the past few weeks I have had several adorable dogs visit us while family take out of town vacations. Each dog has his own habits of when and how often they need to be let out. My own included. Often we sleep late and the dog can't wait for ever. I have a pad by the door but the carpet still gets some odor left in it. I also think the cats have left their sent in protest or just to be mischievous. Anyway there is an odor, not a pleasant odor.

Today I borrowed a steam carpet cleaner from a friend and gave the carpet in the family room the once over. I hate to say that the odor is still faintly there. I tried my best. The carpet is clean. It is probably the pad underneath. Carpet is so much work and so unforgiving. All I wanted to do was sleep in and I am being punished for it.

I can see my next project developing in my mind. I am going to go looking for yellow stained oak to match the living room and once I find this matching Oak out goes another room of carpet. The thought gives me goose bumps. I am so excited. Now I have all the proper tools to do a grand job laying hardwood floors.

I was cleaning the house for a dinner party tomorrow. Once we got the floors done I started in on preparing the food. I enjoyed working at my new kitchen island so much. It is thrilling to have a big functional kitchen and places to work. I kept congratulating myself on a job well done and all for a very reasonable price. Nothing encourages me more than one complete project and moving on to the next. Aaaah the thrill of the thought of what I can tackle next. Just have to get the urge big enough and this time have the materials before I start gutting.

Dang misquitoes

I escaped the beach with little to no bites. Probably because I lived in the same clothes for four days, just freshening the Deet each day several times saturating the clothes to keep the bugs at bay. Thursday night my lovely husband called from his favorite hangout and invited me to join him for a drink at the club. I change into a cute little outfit I had bought during my thrift store shopping and hurry to join him. It is a lovely warm night. We are sitting outside on the patio. I can feel the mosquitoes biting me. They are biting me through the seat of my chair, nice open weave giving them access to my rear end and thighs.

I mention to Tom I am being eaten alive. At first I don't want to leave the existing party and head inside, but the bugs win as I do not have my defensive spray on. Too late do we take action. By morning the bites are in full bloom. By mid afternoon the bites have merged into enormous infected cellulitis. I seem to be allergic to bug bites. Its the same kind of huge hard hot mass as I had last spring when doing yard work and I was bitten. The back of both thighs have three inch round welts and my rump did not escape. I dowsed myself with Benidril and Hydrocortizone cream.

I slept due to the Benidril for a good day on and off. When ever I got itchy I would take the recommended dose and slather on the hydrocortizone cream. A half hour later I was looking for a quiet place to nap. The welts were no better two days later so I called the doctor Saturday morning. It is always Urgent care hours when we need the doctor. Of course the office would not prescribe the antibiotics that they gave me last time without seeing me,  so an hour later I am in the office. I am an hour early as I told the receptionist, if I waited for the appointed time,  I would have taken another Benidril for the itching and slept through the appointment. As a result they got me in quickly.

 I flipped up my skirt for the doctor. She saw the huge spots and wrote me my prescription. Took less than five minutes of her time to confirm what I had told her and cost me what ever they are going to charge me for a trip to urgent care, but I got my prescription. I asked her what am I to do now that I seem to have developed a sensitivity to bug bites. She said use lots of bug off and wash with antibacterial soap when bitten and hope that works. It will be irritating if I have to drop by the office every time a bug bite goes bad on me just to get the antibiotic.

      

Visitors

For the past two weeks we have had some dear friends staying with us. These were the friends that we did the grand canyon trip with in 2009, right before my Dad died of colon Cancer and  before Riley got sick.  Tom Senior was living with us at the time. I took a 10 day road trip with the boys to go visit these friends in Utah. These friends don't see any problem with jumping in the car and driving 14 hours in a day to get to their destination. Distance does not sway them.

They do big family trips often. Last year they did the East Coast loop stopping in Gettysburg and DC and I can't remember all the places they saw. It was my dream vacation. It is not Tom's dream vacation to be in the car driving and driving. Once every few years we'll do a trip, after the memories of fighting in the back seat have faded a little. We are almost due another family trip, one more before Riley finishes High School and as to go out into the working world.

My girlfriend has in laws still in the area. The in laws have a modest home already full of family living with them. My girlfriend was happy to stay with us and just visit with the family during the day while in town. I could provide semi private spaces and real beds for everyone.

The first week we barely saw them as they did the rounds of old friends and family. Tom kept asking if they were really staying with us because he never got to see them. He was in bed asleep by the time they got home at night and up and off to work before any of us were up. I kept a lid on the noise so he wasn't disrupted.

One day my girlfriend and her teen age daughter took the grand father for a shopping trip to all the thrift stores in a thirty mile radius, looking for prom dresses. Utah has steep competition for prom dresses. Our area was a gold mine. They must have bought over a half a dozen ball gowns for between $10 and $30 dollars each. A full closet worth of gowns to wear and share with friends, when they get home. The daughter does synchronized competitive ballroom dancing, these gowns will be worn and worn often. Not having daughters myself I enjoyed the fashion show at the end of the day, loved all the crinoline and beads and lace.

WE were headed down to the beach for the second half of my girlfriend's vacation. WE stopped to check out thrift stores at the coast. I picked up a couple of tops for myself. WE had dinner at a fine restaurant on the way. The food was fantastic but the service took two hours for us to get our dinner. The place was packed. I figure the regulars were getting served first. We finally hit the road again and arrived at our final destination close to 9:00 pm, having left after lunch for what is normally a two hour drive. With all our dawdling shopping and eating we spent the whole day getting to the barn.


My girlfriend had planned her trip to coincide with my annual beach trip to my mom's barn, at the coast. I invite everyone who can go down for a weekend of good company and cookouts on the fire. At first I didn't think we would have much of a turn out, but the first weekend Saturday night turned out to be the only night most people could make it. The place was packed, with every bed in use. I had the tents set up for the kids.

The weather did not cooperate. It would have been fine if Saturday night hadn't had a lightening storm and torrential rains. The tent was soaked. The sleeping bags in the tent were wet. The teens ended up in the downstairs garage area right underneath where we all sleep, playing cards all night. I couldn't sleep even with my ear plugs in, with those boys talking in their loud voices, right under us. The kids had fun  and the adults had fun, it just wasn't as easy as it could have been with accommodating weather.

IN the middle of the night one of the beds one couple was sleeping in collapsed. I have mentioned before the treasures that are used in the barn, antique hand me downs. This double bed was so brittle that under the weight of two adults the sides just sheared off and the mattress hit the floor. Middle of the night, we all rolled over and went back to sleep. Not much anyone could do until morning.

We tried screws to repair the bed but that didn't hold, both sides ripped out when tested. I ended up, while thrift store browsing, picking up a Hollywood frame, a medal frame that would fit within the existing bed frame, but put no stress on the wood, holding the mattresses in place yet hidden by the existing antique frame, while not touching it. I felt it was a perfect solution, keeping the asthetic while being fully functional.

 The first frame I bought was too big, at least a queen, the thrift store let me return it as they had thought it was the right size when we asked for a full size. Another thrift store had the full size. It worked like a charm. I was thrilled with the solution as a hollywood frame will hold up to a lot of weight. I know my mom has more people coming this summer and I did not want to leave her a bed short.  

In the  morning, mosquitoes were out in armies just waiting for our warm bodies to make an appearance so they could attack. I soaked myself in Deet, but those mosquitoes hovered looking for a weak coverage spot to  dive in for breakfast.

The first night down there my girlfriend had the fly swatter out smashing the bodies of mosquitoes who had   penetrate the barn through the screens. We had the windows with screens open to keep the room from over heating. It may have been wet but it was not cold.

On one killing  swat, the mosquitoe smashed  red blood on the white wall. My girlfriend commented that she got that one too late, that mosquitoes had already fed on someone in the room.

We bundled up and were able to cook our hot dogs and smores over the fire, but there was no lingering with the air full of buzzing hungry verminous mosquitoes. We re-applied the repellent and played cards in the house. We played until late then headed to bed. Not long after we were in bed the teen agers, wet from the leaking tent,  moved into the garage to begin their noisy games.

In the morning, everyone was slow to rise. There was a shuffling of beds as the adults got up and the teens moved in to take over those empty spaces and recover from being up all night. The day stayed overcast but not so bad that we couldn't get out and hang at the beach or walk the town and get crab for lunch. Most of the people had to leave afer lunch as  they could only come down for one night. The next day was Monday and some still had to work.

There was a  silence after most of the guest left. The  problem was there were less targets for the mosquitoes to hone in on. Where they had been missing me in favor of sweeter prospects I found the need to go buy fresh cans of bug repellent to keep them at bay, even then we ended up going to the beach where the winds blew the bugs away.

We stopped at the candy store, the ice cream store, the bakery, and enjoyed browsing the local thrift stores. Found a few more ball gowns to try on and purchase. We went riding on the beach which to my surprise my girlfriend and her children had never done before. She is farm bred and country raised yet had never ridden on the beach. We had a grand time. Trevor was put on a big Belgium horse that could carry him. I was given one of the wrangler's personal horses with a lovely disposition though she said my horse tended to have attitude, I didn't notice at all. Riley was given a gentle horse. Riley's feet almost touched the ground, his legs were so long on the horse. Riley  was all grins and thumbs up, as he road along the beach. The other teens had as big and happy smiles as you could imagine. It was one of the highlights of the whole trip.

We ended up having everyone sleep in the barn due to the weather. I brought the tent down during a dry moment. We had one day where the sun showed. At least the overcast kept me from getting burned again. I had spent one afternoon at the club with the children swimming in the pool before we went to the beach. My shoulders were blistered and peeling. I was glad to have the weather give me the excuse to keep my skin covered.

My girlfriend's teen age son was on the hunt for a big dog. He had been given a list of requirements that had to be fulfilled before he could have a dog. She hadn't thought he would succeed but he had done everything on the list. She now had to live up to her side of the bargain. As a result, we stopped at the humane society looking for an adoption. The teens spent an hour playing in the kitten room after not finding a suitable dog.  On the way home from the beach she stopped in at couple of other shelters. There was one dog they loved but the dog had been farm raised and the coordinator felt that the dog would not adapt well to being in a smaller yard. I can't imagine how she ever adopts out any of her shelter animals if her criteria is so strict. They had stayed in town an extra day in hopes of bringing home that dog. They had also stayed in town an extra day because it had been so fun staying with us. I almost cried after they left, it had been such an incredibly fun two weeks. One of the easiest visits I have ever had. I hope they come back soon.

Tom is still not sure they were ever even here. We did do a couple of BBQs which Tom got home in time to participate, otherwise, he may never have seen our house guests at all.

My sister and her family from New York arrive tomorrow to visit her Mom, Margaret. So I can't feel depressed for long, more visitors are coming.  

Cranky children

Do children ever grow out of the cranky phase.? We have been playing hard this summer. Having lots of sleep overs and friends. The boys have been staying up late into the night playing card games and video game on the x box. Last night caught up with Riley.

I got Trevor rousted out of bed for weight training. I tried to wake Riley at the same time but he ignored me. Trevor was hard enough but on his best behavior as his best friend was sleeping on a cot in his room at the time. I warned Trevor not to make me cranky. He resonded with a "Yes, Ma'me , I am awake." We made it to training as it was starting.

I came home and tried to roust Riley again. When Trevor called for his pick up, I  told Riley his time was up we had to go. Riley comes with me so I can drop both boys at summer school. I am not making two trips.  Riley daudles along at a slow pace. He tells me I didn't wake him and give him enough time.  He doesn't want to go  to school and he is killing time. I have to yell. I did wake him, he just ignored me. He had stayed up too late playing with his friends.

 When he makes it downstairs, he tells me he is hunger and needs to cook breakfast for himself. I offer cerial in the car, but no, he wants waffles. I stand there angrily while he cooks up his breakfast. I come very close to pouring the waffle batter over his head. Trevor is waiting at the training center for his ride.

The sooner we get to school the sooner the boys will be done with their morning classes. I tell Riley to take his waffle with him. He is mad that he can't eat at home and study at home. I tell him I caught him playing games on the computer, I can't trust him to do his work.

Finally in the car, he sits in back with his food. The sticky plate of waffle tips and covers Riley in syrup. When we arrive at the school, he gets out and I drive off. He has not eaten one bite of that waffle he so desparately had to make for breakfast. Two minutes later I get a call from a friend. "I just saw Riley leave the school and walk away."

I  turn the car around and head back to the school. I find Riley walking, blocks away headed towards home. I roll down my window and ask if he wants a lift back to school. He says he is going to find something to eat. Fine, I drive off leaving him with his sticky shirt walking down the block. I figure he'll cool off with a good long walk.

He told me later it took 45 minutes to find a mini mart and get a bottle of water and a donut. He texts me after he gets his food asking if I will come get him. I text back that he can walk home or  walk to school and get picked up after he studies. He opts to walk home. Another 45 minutes and he walks in the door. He is not angry anymore, he is too tired.

Tom calls to check in and I tell him Riley skipped school. He was not happy to hear that news.

The Fourth of July

Tom went to the reservation just down the road from his work. He had me fill up the gas tank on the Jeep and took that car to work, so he could fill up with more fireworks than his car could hold. I told him $500 budget. He responded with "It is none of your business". It is our classic discussion as he doubles the fireworks budget I give him every year. I humor him , he humors me, and we get a grand display. This routine stems from when we moved to this state and discovered everything goes on the Fourth for fireworks. There are no restrictions. Our old state was so restrictive that nothing was allowed to leave the ground, limiting us to smoke bombs and fountains.

When Tom first discovered real fireworks he was ecstatic. He and another friend would go hog wild each year and buy cases of mortars to launch. The party would be at their house. His friend screwed six launch tubes onto a plywood board  one year so they could launch multiple mortars, tying the fuse wicks together. Tom and he reveled in the explosions. Occasionally a mortar would stick in the tube and everyone would yell duck, and dive for cover as the mortar exploded inside the tube destroying the cardboard launch tube.

In the last few years, Tom has discovered cakes, the big boxes of multiple explosions already built into the fireworks box. He can light the fuse and have plenty of time to step back and admire the sparkling fireworks as they go off over and over again with just one fuse lit. This is what he came home with this year, a box the size of a twin mattress filled with cakes of fireworks. The stand had thrown in two boxes of fountains and smoke bombs for free  as a thank you for spending so much money.

I was walking back to my car having seen the fair early in the day and passed a friend who asked me if it was true that Tom had spent $1000 on fireworks. I said he doesn't tell me these things but I wouldn't be surprised. I invited her over to the house to see the display later that night.

Tom had been "testing" different locations around the house to see what would be the best sight to locate the show. We couldn't launch them in the back yard down below the house, as they would potentially explode right in our faces on the deck. He had let off a few mortars in the front yard, as we watched, the night before. We found the trees in the front yard blocked our view from different positions. It took several experimental shots and angle discussions to find what would work. The wind kept blowing the display over the trees to where we couldn't see all of the fireworks in the sky.

Before dinner, on the fourth, to entertain himself, Tom set off a few fountains on the deck while he waited for the cooking BBQ, to keep himself busy. We ended up deciding to just launch everything from the deck. The wind accommodated the display. Mostly our friends came over to watch Tom as he is great entertainment when in full form, so happy to be lighting pretty explosives.

Earlier in the week, we could hear what Tom thought must be M80s, which are partial sticks of dynamite going off in the neighborhood. he was looking forward to seeing what the neighbors did on the fourth.

 I have a friend that hates the fourth with all the explosions. She hates how it disturbs the dogs and cats. She hates that people light off loud explosives late into the night not considering other people might be trying to sleep. She is happy when the fourth is over and done. She checks in with me to make sure we survived without injury after the fourth is over. To her the fourth is full of stress.

Tom told our guests that the Fourth is right up there with Christmas, Thanksgiving, and his Birthday  as his favorite days of the year. He was so happy. He even had a smile on his face after he lost  a round of golf he played early in the day. He said he should have busted 80, this is for 18 holes, compared to my shooting 80 for nine holes. He said he lost the round, with a big grin on his face, so happy that it was the Fourth of July, and he was about to launch $1000 worth of fireworks off our deck to  entertain friends and family and himself. 

We served our usual BBQ with home made potato salad, corn on the cob, and watermelon. Our friends brought the fruit pies for dessert. Tom kept the fireworks going with fountains and the occasional mortar until it was dark enough for the cakes. It was lovely. Our booms blended in with everyone one else lighting off fireworks in the area. The trees in our yard blocked most of the displays close by, but we could see fireworks around town from our deck while we watched our own.

. When all the big fireworks were done, it was time for the guests to get home and for me to put the food away and clean up. We still have half a box of the fountains left over,  which we will save for Tom's Birthday in August. The windows in our bedroom were open at bedtime. I wanted to shut them as explosions were still going off all over town. Tom wanted to fall asleep to the noise. As soon as he started snoring I shut the windows so I could sleep.

In the morning, I had the boys pick up all the big empty cakes off the deck and throw them in the garbage. We filled all three of our giant garbage cans with cardboard for recycling, and the rest in the regular garbage. Tomorrow is garbage day. Next big event for us is Tom's birthday.     

I told the applicants "No". It wasn't hard. They had made the ultimate mistake of purchasing two cars recently. Their debt to income ratio just didn't cut it. They were looking at  45% of income to live in my house. I felt I was doing them a favor turning them down before they got in over their heads. I felt like I should give them  a friendly lecture about finance and affordability, but I resisted and just said I "regretted they did not qualify due to the income/ expense ratio."

Haven't received any other inquiries at this time but it is Fourth of July weekend. People are vacationing and partying. I am hopeful that in the next few weeks I will find someone else. As I said before houses are sitting five months before selling, and that is with a limited supply of houses for sale on the market. Everyone is being cautious, including me.

Hesitation

Riley got his passing grade in English. It does not absolve the not passing grade, but at least he is on target again to graduate with the required number of classes that count in English. I enrolled him into the State History class. He will need that class also. It also gives the boys something to do with their time rather than just sleep and play video games. In talking to a friend about the next class I told her I could tell Riley didn't want to take another class. She said "Don't ask". So I didn't give Riley an option. Besides it is history, like his father and grand father, Riley likes studying history.
He may resent having to take a summer school class but he got right into the research of it immediately.

Trevor is not quite finished with his History class. He has until the end of the week in order to enroll in the English class. He probably wont finish English in time but at least it will keep him busy. I really want them to learn the lesson of summer school. If you don't achieve adequate grades during the school year, there is summer school.

I am in the process of checking out the new applicants for our old house. I am hesitant as I wait for their credit reports. I don't think they qualify due to the income to expense ratios. She mentioned they had just bought new cars. I need to see if they financed the cars. From the numbers they gave me for income, they would already be stretching to afford the rent, let alone the utilities that go with a bigger home. You do have to eat also.

The house is like a grand buffet with your eyes being bigger than your stomach; Beautiful big tempting house, small incomes. On the other hand, I don't believe the couple that are in there now fully qualified, but I couldn't afford to be too picky with an empty house. You really have to look at how they pay their bills, are they current on everything, no late payments. Credit reports give all that information.  Bottom line is to find out if these people are  honorable. We have tenants now under contract. They pay on time and the house looks better than when I took care of the place. They lose a lot of money if they break the contract early.  I can afford to be picky for a while, to find a good replacement family.

I was looking at the average time a house is for sale these days. The listings are up to 160 days, between five and six months. I am week two. I am a FSBO, not even listed on the Multiple listings. Find mine on Craigslist.  Patience, I know how long it took when I was looking. I just got so excited when I got a nibble right away. Nothing since, but our large deposit clears out a lot of contenders that wouldn't qualify anyway to rent it. And we really want an interested buyer.