New house

Today I made an offer on an old house in Pulaski, TN. It's really adorable; built around 1900 with an addition made within the last 20 years or so. It only has 5 rooms, kitchen (updated), living room (to be converted to bedroom), dining room (to be converted to living room), bedroom #2 and bedroom #3 (to be converted to den). It has good bones, but needs a lot of work. The yard is horribly overgrown (the picture is from the real estate listing and is a couple of years old), the future living room walls are spongy and dark red, the carpets are old and smelly, the wood floors could stand to be refinished, the deck (back and side) needs a fresh coat of paint, the fireplaces are sealed up (so God only knows what condition they're in), the roof (metal, probably original) is rusty with paint peeling off. But it is adorable.

If the contract goes through, I'll go to a local auction toward the end of this month and see about buying a few pieces of furniture. It pretty much sucks up all my money, so repairs will not all take place at once. As soon as the weather permits, we'll tackle the yard and do some serious pruning and chopping. If the roof is ok for awhile, the next project is replacing the spongy dark red walls in the future living room with sheet rock and replacing carpeting where there is NOT hardwood floors underneath. At the same time, the bathroom floor needs to be replaced. Then we rest awhile and recover from all the costs.

I offered really low (not my fault - Consumer Report said to always offer 20% less than asking price) so I will not be surprised by a counter offer. Can't wait to hear.

A new project

The cabin is lovely, but it's a cabin. My husband just loves driving his tractor around and planting food for the animals (the place is crawling with deer and turkey) and I'm left to clean the cabin and cook lunch. Not so much fun. Most days I spin or knit, but I get lonely.

S0000000 - I'm off on a new project. This weekend I will (probably) buy an old house in Pulaski to fix up. It reminds me of my grandmother's house. It needs a lot of work (and will keep me busy for years) and has two things that the cabin lacks - city water and neighbors. I'm very excited about this and will post pictures when - and if - the deal goes through.

Cabin Progress

We've made a lot of changes at the cabin. The wood siding has been painted a color to match the mortar between the logs, the back porch has been finished, screen doors added, plants (infested with scale) removed and replaced, new rock driveway, new woodshed, and grading in the yard to divert water.

I'm happy with the changes inside, too. The kitchen is very functional. Instead of built-in cabinets we went with furniture. It makes the "counter top" a bit low, but nothing else would have fit in there anyway.

Hargis has reached the point that we can let him run loose there. He still barks at the cows across the road - I suspect he's afraid of them. We have a big, fat groundhog that has moved in under the house. We've filled up his entrance hole several times, but he just digs it out again. We've decided to let him stay as long as he doesn't damage anything. We've named him Murray (for Bill Murray).

Mike is doing well. He has his next PET scan this coming Friday. I'm nervous.

Snow in Alabama

We're snowed in today. Got about 7" of snow, which wouldn't be a big deal it this weren't Alabama where there are no snow plows and a shovel to resident ratio of about 1/100. We were prepared, have plenty of bread, milk, toilet paper, dog food, kitty litter and beer.

Hargis, our 5 month old Golden Retriever, thinks snow is wonderful. He keeps claiming he needs to go out, but he really just wants to play in the snow.

Mike had a great hunting season. He and his son got 7 deer on our property in TN. Could have gotten more but they ran out of freezer space. The cabin is looking great, the porch is done and the kitchen baseboard is now finished. Next is to fix the last two broken windows and start thinking about painting the kitchen and bathroom. Mike wants a pole barn to store his tractor and equipment in.

2010 was pretty rough. 2011 is starting out pretty good. It's kinda nice to be snowed in.

Phenial T. Hawk

On Rt. 53, just west of Research Park Drive, there was a hawk that sat on the power lines and poles and watch the traffic. We'd see him almost every time we went to the cabin and would always look for him. We named him Phenial T. (for The) Hawk, because he looked like a finial on top of the poles. I was looking for him this morning when I suddenly saw a dead hawk in the middle of the road. "Oh, God, NO!"

I kept looking, but did not see Phenial. We drove on in silence. About a half mile down the road, we saw a small hawk sitting on top of a power pole. We named him Phenial.

Hanging in there

Mike has finished 7 sessions of chemo. We have 5 more to go. Each time is worse than the time before. He's lost a lot, but not all, of his hair; keeps getting very bad thrush; and is sicker each time. The biggest problem is that he has a hard time accepting that he can't do what he's always done. He tries to do too much, then makes himself sicker.

A couple of weeks ago, he insisted on working on a food plot he's putting in for the deer at our cabin in Tennessee. When he came in he looked scary horrible. After some salt and water and sitting in a chair for awhile he got a bit better. When we went in for chemo the next week we learned that his port had broken and a 5" piece of catheter was stuck in his heart. They had to go in thru his groin to his heart and fish it out. Then he had a picc line for awhile and now has a new port.

My weight loss is effortless. I'm down over 90 lbs now. Neither one of us really wants to eat.

As a reward to myself for losing so much I bought a Majacraft Saxonie from a woman on Ravelry. When it arrived, it was just placed in a box with a couple of sheets of styrofoam on each side. Of course it was horribly broken. Majacraft doesn't make that wheel anymore, but the wonderful people at Majacraft are making me a new drive wheel (the big wheel on the spinning wheel). I'm so grateful. Mike says he can fix the rest of the damage to the wheel.

Good things: I bought new pants yesterday in a size I wore 35 years ago. I'm buying pretty underwear again (instead of old lady underwear). I can hook my own bra in the back. Walking feels good. The cabin looks great (it's been painted, got a new road and the new porch is almost finished). I've learned to blend fibers with my wool combs and it's really pretty. My 6-month labs came in and I'm normal (no more diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol). We're over half way done with the chemo.

Hard times

My arm was recovering nicely; I was going to therapy and doing well. Mike finally agreed to a colonoscopy and went in on March 12 - and they found that he has colon cancer. They immediately checked him into the hospital and operated that afternoon. He's now taking chemotherapy. He's doing well, and trying not to be a burden, but it's hard on him. And he has no one to vent to except me. NO ONE has come to visit him since he got out of the hospital. His older son and daughter-in-law were wonderful while he was in the hospital - and I don't know what I would have done without them. But since then it's been just me.

I'm trying to manage, but it's really more than I can handle. My parents (who live across town and are primarily helped by my brother and sister-in-law) are almost 95. Dad's heart is failing; Mom just had a mini-stroke. My beloved cat is very sick. My stomach hurts all the time, I can't sleep. Yesterday I got out for a few minutes and went shopping. I just wandered from store to store and didn't care about anything. My doctor has put me on Lexapro (an antidepressant) and I know I'm depressed, but it made me sick. I don't have time to be sick right now. I'm not taking it.

Last night was very bad. I don't think Mike slept at all, I didn't sleep much. He's super grumpy this AM. I'm just trying to stay calm and keep remembering what he's going through and that this is not about me.

But I really was not physically prepared for this. But I just gotta do what I gotta do.