Yeah, Finally

I am finally posting. I just have not been feeling like blogging. But something is better than nothing.

Here is Matt with one of his new toys which he received on his 4th birthday, December 24, 2010. It was so wonderful to see them again! I'm pretty sure he remembered who I was but it had only been 5 months instead of 12. I wish I could see them more often. I miss Matt and Ally and Sean. Ally and Sean are such good parents! And Matt is such a smart, open, loving child.

I decorated my house for Christmas. I wasn't sure I would. I'd been feeling discouraged about the lack of progress towards repairs and getting a re-finance so I can stay here past the 5 years. But I did and I'm glad I did. The decorations made me happy. I think my original idea was the best - keep the Christmas decorations, tree etc. in the shed. I was up and down the stairs too often. And hopefully I will be able to do that. (More on that in a moment.) Here's a couple pictures of the decorations at my house.

The picture on the left is my tree which I put in the front corner of the house. The picture on the right is my "countdown" snowmen. I set this on the pellet stove. I had other decorations around but the pictures aren't really great so I am not posting them.

And so next year I will take better pictures and hopefully still be blogging by then. It's been 4 years and I am afraid I am running out of steam!

Now for the rest of the news. Thanks to Susan I finally have a dependable repairman who not only shows up but does excellent work! The only scary thing is that the material prices are OK but it's looking to cost me nearly $2k just for the labor! He's done quite a bit already (4 days worth) and it looks better but I'd like to get the rest of it done so I can move ahead with refinancing in the spring. There will still be things to do, especially treating the wood frame over the patio (which used to have a roof on it - more on that in a moment) and then painting it. Plus painting other stuff. I am not sure yet if we will need to paint the trim which will be joining the corners of the shed and then the shed to the house. Boy, they did a miserable job building that shed. Not only unjoined to the house properly but partially finished outside and inside the half where the water heater is they didn't use anything to protect against moisture so all the sheetrock rotted. And the floor wasn't really a floor. Anyway it is now down to framing and insulation so it looks much better. AND it has a steel door with a lock instead of a hollow door that didn't fit.

The patio roof actually had 3 separate roofs on it. They had put one on it, didn't like it or didn't work, put another than another. By the time it was taken down the particle board was totally soaked everywhere and it was terrible. Took a little over a day just to take that down!

My repairman is wonderful. He has agreed to do the inside of the shed for a 1 day price because it may take more than that and my budget is running out. Then I am hoping he can get the remaining smaller things done in a half day. If he can then I will be able to afford the last of the required repairs to refinance. Of course there are other things I want done but those will have to wait.

Sadly I think I am going to have to get a car hopefully not for another year but who knows. I think there are a few things that need to be done and if they cost a lot, it's not worth it. The car is worth a maximum of about $900. But the longest I can get it to go is best. I am using monthly car payment money that I keep putting away to pay for repairs. January's money went for day #4's labor charges. :)

OK I need to update my crafty blog which has been a long time. It's hard before Christmas because I don't want to post pictures of gifts I've made. I've made quite a few things since and need to work on a couple more but I'm making progress. Always do in the winter when it's colder and knitting or crochet is easier.

No vacation plans yet. Hoping to be able to go see mom for Mother's Day. We'll see.