The new chair

Yes, the last piece of new furniture arrived today and I actually was able to not only bring it into the house but also put it together.  Here is Master Simcha doing monorail cat on the new chair in the dim light of the living room.  I could take you on a photo tour of the house but that will come in time.

Lit the grill again tonight and had a lovely steak and grilled veggies. A lovely...so lovely in fact that I ate at the dining room table with a place mat and cloth napkins.  I am really enjoying this home and all it means to me.  I wish I could tell Hyphen how happy I am and how she helped me to get to this point.  Maybe in a few weeks I will send another card into the void of the postal system...I see the New therapist Monday and I do have a lot to process.  A lot of feelings about losing Hyphen at that point in my therapy.  

On an up note I did set up the music room today. I can't seem to find my Snark tuners so I had to order a few more. By this weekend I should be playing the guitar and easing into the mandolin.  A few weeks of practice and I should be good to go.  That said I have a lot to do with the house.   I want to put in flowers and spruce up the outside. I also want to walk for an hour a night before dinner.  I need to budget my time.  Maybe putter in the garden on the weekend or in the morning as it gets lighter every day.  This house has made me very happy and when I unload the condo I will be a free spirit.

Anyway, here is Simcha monorailing on the new chair.

Opening Day Open House

It was a perfectly lovely day for an open house, as the weather turned from rain to sun by 3:00 p.m.  The grill was lit and so was I.  Oh no, not really but I was having fun.  I love to entertain. In fact, that is why I bought the house.  The realtor gave me a lovely house warming present of vegetable plants to put in my burgeoning garden.  And the retired head of technical services has promised me a trip to Van Atta's Greenhouse before long to get perennials.  I have a good start but need to have a lot of work done in the back yard.  You know a rock garden might be the way to go under my bedroom window.  And, joy of joys, a pair of gold finches were eating at my new feeder, replete with Nyjer seed.  The word is out and the word is the bird, or something like that.  Three new neighbors stopped by, once again making me feel as if I belong and as if I am home.  Dr. Ben was there and we set up music lessons again, which I have already delayed by a week.  My hands are so stiff from moving and then not playing that I feel like I need the time to: a.) set up the music room and b.) actually practice.  Maybe start with a guitar and move to the mandolin once I have my hands warmed up and moving.

As the worm turns, or not, I have my new therapist on my old therapy day, which is Monday.  Lessons will also commence on May 4th, which is a Monday.  So we shall see how that goes next week.  I am anxious to start therapy again.  The panic over the house and moving has passed.  Now I must deal with the loss of Hyphen for some time and my concerns regarding that loss and then step up to the plate with a new therapist and deal with some old hurts and pains.

Today is a grocery shopping day.  Also when I get home I must water the newest plants and fill the solar bird bath.  When the sun it out the fountain in the bird bath spurts water.  It is way cool.  By then when I get home the second to last of the home purchases, a new chair, will be awaiting me.  The last home purchase, a hassock, will come tomorrow.  The living room will be complete and the house done on the inside.  Now if Brad would come back and give me the binder of manuals for all the appliances then I could do a load of wash.  Basically I am flying by the seat of my Levi's.  In any event tonight I will put away the stuff from the party and get the music room set up and the new chair in place.  I think with that ahead of me tonight it may be a good night to order in something.  Maybe Mexican.  The next two days I have a luncheon to attend on campus and a Union Rep Training session on Thursday.  I seem to have lost some weight in the move, which would not hurt my feelings if it continues or if I can maintain.  On the last notch of my belt today.  I need to find a smaller waist belt.  Of course I am only losing weight, it seems, in my waist and butt, and not in the rather large gut I seem to have developed since starting all the medication for being bipolar.  My slacks seem to bet getting kinda baggy.  Unlike the last time when I lost weight I am going to see if this keeps up before investing in a smaller size.

And so it goes.

Fatigue Redux

Well,  in spite of having a lovely new bed, I slept on the couch last night.  Sleep, such as it was, was sparse. I am still endeavoring to get used to sleeping in a bed but old habits die hard. This weekend  I WILL sleep in the bed and try to sleep in.  I have another three day weekend, due in part to the opening day delayed open house on Monday.  Yesterday the last touch was  added as the wooden blinds went up.  Not only do they look nice they give me a lot more privacy.  Of course I have to keep them up during the day lest the kitties wreck them.  Gonif will play with the twisty rod for hours at a time.  Just bopping it.  And Simcha is checking out the neighborhood from his perch.  Lots to see for cats raised in a third floor walk up.  Squirrels for starters.  Oh, wait, I still have the new screen doors to add to the house and all the boxes taken out of the garage.  I want to be able to put the yard stuff away.  And, also, the backyard is getting a slight make-over.  Fresh top soil and some patio blocks.  A small herb garden to plant and some heirloom vegetables to plant.  Also I have five lovely rose bushes coming from Wayside Gardens.  I feel a putter coming upon me.  I am glad we had some rain yesterday as the bulbs I planted last weekend really perked up.  Sunday sounds like a nice day to finish planting the bulbs and ponder perennials to put it.  Joe will also try to seed the front lawn and we shall see if that takes or if it merely becomes fodder for the birds.  Speaking of birds, Aunt Marilyn is sending me two bird feeders as a housewarming present.  I have already seen black capped chickadees  in the back yard.

Bottom line.  This plac feels like a home.  I love the whole house.  And all the outside work will give me plenty of puttering to do.  Home sweet home.

Tonight Mr. Bill will put together the deck furniture.  And I believe that is the last of the building of stuff.  And that will be my Friday.  Saturday we are going to a spring tea at the Kellogg Center.  We went to the autumn harvest tea and had a jolly good time.  Of course that will take time from my baseball watching but...the season is young.  So young, indeed, that my Tigers are playing 1.000 ball. Okay, so it is only three wins and against a weak team but...hope springs eternal...

And away we go...

Je suis fatigue

I am just so very tired that I can barely keep the old eyes open.  I woke up last night at what I thought was 1:45 and couldn't get back to sleep.  However it was actually 11:45 and I have been up since.  I actually lost two hours of sleep I thought I had.  That said, I had two Five Hour Energy shots which did little more than to make me sick to my stomach, like they do.  One is usually enough but when you catch yourself nodding off as you stare at computer monitors when the second bottle was needed.  Barely ate any lunch.  Actually, I have been off my feed for a few weeks, first because of the move and now I just can't seem to work up an appetite.  I have gone to my comfort food, a baked potato with butter and season salt. and/or sour cream.  Not even noshing like I usually do.  I was going to grill tonight but tomorrow seems like a better day.  My blinds are being installed tomorrow so I will get a little more privacy then I have had the last few weeks.  I don't know how the cats will do with the blinds.  Hopefully they don't mangle them or get caught up in the string pulls.  Also tonight is a luxurious session of reflexology and that should help me get over the two Energy Shot ickies. Also the landscape guy is coming out tonight to discuss some issues with the backyard and what I want done with it.  I'd like so patio blocks by the deck for the fire pit and so we can have a few chairs around the pit.  The deck needs to be power washed and treated. 

The weather seems to be a little less threatening right now.  I indeed might grill but I think I will save it for tomorrow.  I have a lovely flank steak marinating and fresh shitake mushrooms as well as asparagus.  I could even cook it on the grill on the pink Himalayan salt blocks and no it doesn't make it too salty.  It adds a lovely light flavor.  So tomorrow while the installer is putting up the wood blinds I can start the grill.  Something to look forward to.

So, my hope for tonight is that the ickies go away and I can have a gentle potato and maybe a salad.  Grill tomorrow as it is supposed to be warmer and might lend itself better to cooking out of doors.  Right now it looks like it could rain any minute, or not.  Typical Michigan weather, changing every five minutes.  As for thunder storms, Yankel cat is frightened to death of them and usually hides in the bathroom.  But then the condos are so old that the rattle with a good crack of thunder.  I am hoping we have a little less of that at Sans Souci.  I think because I have doubled my square footage the cats aren't fighting as much, Gonif is eating kibble without doing his infamous scarf and barf, Yankel and Simcha have stopped hissing at each out and there is actually enough room for two alpha males.  Gonif knows he is the oldest but has no interest in being that alpha male.  He just wants to be my baby boy.  And Simcha, who had the habit of knocking over the treat tower, even when it was full, is not doing that anymore and seems content with the lay of the land and the amount of treats that are available to him on a daily basis.

Well, five more minutes and I can shut down my computer and get ready to head home to my footsie massage.  Maybe get a nap in while she does the esoteric healing.  Certainly get a nap in before dinner and before the landscaper comes.

Good day all.

The Bird is indeed the word

Barb, a.k.a. The Bird, is no Hyphen, but then who is, other than the real deal.  In her stead The Bird will do just fine.  I had a good session which was essentially a taking of history and me doing a job interview. I am going back in two weeks; I would have gone back next Monday but it is my Open House for a Passover delayed Opening Day.  She seemed competent and empathetic.  I had a good connection with her.  Unlike the the last time, before I acquired Pat the Psychological Foreman.  That was hellish going through a number of trials with various therapists before settling on her.  She has since retired but her stated goal was to get me out of therapy and on level ground.  That said, I stopped seeing her about ten years ago.  I felt about three years ago I needed some support again and thanks to a counselor on campus was directed to Hyphen.  As Hyphen is about 63 years old and it is anticipated that it will take her at least a year to recover from the accident, I don't know that she will ever practice again.  The Bird will do.  She does the some of the same type of therapy that Hyphen practiced and is a good psychologist.  Also from the Detroit area so we have some common history. 

And that said I need some help processing the process of losing Hyphen, even if it is temporary.  If she does practice again I feel right now like I would be afraid and ashamed to see her again.  In some respects I feel like I was the cause of the accident, even though it was a half assed cab driver's fault.  It is the same type of accident that killed my grandmother Dorothy.  T-boned, as she was, in Dorothy's case by a Monkey Ward's truck driver who shot through a funeral procession on the 20th of December 1985.  I guess I really should share that story with The Bird, as it has re-surfaced as a result of Hyphen's accident.  So, again, that said, I need to start a list and history of my own.  There, I updated my contacts.  The Bird did give me her cell number.  Maybe a text would be nice.

Oh, well, Sophie is MIA today due to a headache.  I have one as well, stress I suspect.  Plumber is coming tonight after work for the garbage disposal issue.  The, in lieu of Sophie, JB is taking me grocery shopping.  Yes, I have lots of staple food items, but I need some fresh stuff and loads of Coca Cola.  Maybe some deli items.  But JB is generous with her time and not prone to headaches.

Okay, back to whatever it was I was doing...

Aside from

The garbage disposal fubar the Easter-Over dinner was a success.  I said a traditional Irish blessing that made Sophie verklempt.  I asked also to bless this house to be too small to hold all of my friends.  We came close last night,  six adults and two kids, who were actually well behaved, unlike the adults.  Today I have off as it is the first day of the baseball season as well as my first meeting with the new-hopefully temporary-therapist, whom because of her name we shall dub the Bird.  And the bird is the word, eh?  As this is a special day I am also having my first luncheon at the house and instead of Chinese food carry out as promise, I am making a frittata with spring veggies and the girls can have English muffins and I will make do with matzo.

So the home is basically broken in, and the final act of housewarming will be a party next Monday for the new baseball season and the new house.  I love this house already. It feels more like home than the condo did, especially after the passing of Jerry.  The neighbors are nice and the yard is coming together. I could even grill tonight!  It is a little warm in the house right now.  Supposed to be a warm day.  Mayhap I can open a window!

I vacuumed,  I set the table and will relax until about noon.  Takes about a half hour to make the frittata.  I'll make a pot of coffee.  2:30 we will leave for therapy.  Then hopefully tonight the disposal will be attended to.  Some grout got into the drain and seized the motor.  That will be for Mister Brad to pay for as it was and is his grout. Unfortunately he is in Florida and can't attend to ththe matter himself.

Okay, nothing spectacular.  No Magic Plastic Tuna alert today. Just baseball, brunch and therapy.  I will repeat the Irish blessing I used last night

May you be blessed with sunshine to warm you
A moonbeam to charm you
A sheltering angel so no harm can come to you
Laughter to cheer you
And when you pray heaven hear you

Have a lovely day all.

New Home Owner Blues (in the key of E)

Well, I had plumbers come out Wednesday to replace a four foot section of galvanized pipe in the basement that was wrecking havoc with the kitchen sink.   I was anticipating a huge bill.  Who knew honest plumbers existed?  Who knew?  He only charged me for one house call, which was from the night before when he tried to snake the drain only to reach an impasse, and parts and labor came to just under $300.  Yessireebob.  I also had the back and front yard raked and groomed and made arrangements to have two very large shrubs dispatched at a later date.  I took a walk in my new neighborhood and put out new solar lights and took out the old ones.  So the front of the house looks much cleaner and nicer.  Mrs.  Shankland, she of the banging into Sophie's new car, came over last night to tell me a few good neighborly things and compliment me on the work on the outside.  She's a pistol alright.  Also, last night, when I tried to run the dishwasher, there was no power so right away I called Brad who wisely told me to check the circuit breaker, which was in the off position.  A case of the new home owner learning a new trick. 

I am seeing the doctor today for a follow-up and I am embarrassed to say I have on what I thought were grey slack but are actually a lighter said of green.  And the gray sweater does not match the slacks, and shoes.  I feel awkward. 

Tomorrow, among other things, is the first night of Passover.  So of course I am going to a concert.  And have a family type dinner at the new place on Sunday with a number of the people who had helped me so much in the move.  A kosher ham and matzoh.  Oy!  Saturday the painters are coming over for to touch up some spots and help me hang some pictures. 

Any while Hyphen recuperates somewhere in the city (at least two months in the hospital and who knows how long in rehab) I have a therapy appointment with a pseudo-hyphen on Monday.  I just want a fallback position.  Who knows when or if Hyphen will be Hyphen again.

Oh, drat, the Magic Plastic Tuna is here.  I must be going.