I have to say that I really enjoy this forum but on occasion, I just feel like taking a break so I did! Well, now, isn't that a lot to say about nothing! Really, this place is one of the better senior places I have been attached to...yes, attached! Went to a couple of parties, did a little bit more work on my book - I think I will expire before it is ever complete. It is mostly a memoir about my life. The only problem I am having with it is that I always think of more things to write and it is always after I finish a chapter. Also took some long naps...think that was because of the parties but more so because I have become crazed with reading books on Kindle. My old body seems to want to slow down and is slowly winning the battle. Anyway, I am back again...lucky you!
@Richard Paradon, it is always good to hear from you. You know this crowd needs a chaperone, and of course you are just the straight and narrow guy to keep us in line. (Snickering now) I just popped in for a bit of relaxation. Today is my sixth day of chaperoning three youngens all under seven. I still have around a week, before my family can move back to their own houses. It has been awhile since I've had so many house guests, and it is running me ragged, but at least I can provide food and dry shelter for my family. So friends, cross your finger that the weatherman is right for a change, and that there are several dry days ahead of us. (I keep telling young people that being a Meteorologist is the best job around. Even if you are wrong 50% of the time, no one will fire you as they would in jobs.)
Well as you can see, I'm still surviving. With these nice dry sunny days, it looks like the two houses that flooded recently, will be ready for both families to move into by Tuesday. Yea!!! The flooring and three feet of sheetrock have been replaced, and both households can be painted later when they decide on the new furniture. I've had a great time chaperoning the kids around, and in general trying to keep up with their energy level, but most of all I am amazed at how technologically advanced they are. And they all use pencil and paper as well. So I've been getting them muddy as I'm teaching all three, (They are my great granddaughter, and two other pre schoolers that my 16 y/o granddaughter is sitting for the summer.), to do a bit of gardening, and that learning about bugs, lizards, and garden birds is really interesting, and not totally yucky. After my houseguest are gone, I know I'll be curling up in my bed for a good 24 hour sleep, if I'm lucky. Then I've got to get busy cleaning up my place, and then I'll have about ten days to get whatever I wish to keep from the property I'm selling. It SOLD only 12 days after it was put on the market, and for more than the asking price. My realtor is ecstatic. I have been trying to peek in on the forum before dropping like log into bed each night, and I will start interacting more in the near future. Know that I think of all of you daily.
Well here it is, the end of August, and things are not slowing down. Of course my family moved back to their homes after the floodings back in the spring, but the rest I dreamed of didn't last more than a couple of days. I'm really not used to so much interaction with people, much less groups of people. I truly think I could be a hermit, but for my daughter and a friend 18 years my junior. The more I tried to pull away from the world, the hard they pulled on me to keep going. Then everything just continued to confuse me, and my whole world has changed. After my son and husband died last year, I found myself with five acres, two large homes side by side on the property, and only me to care for all of it. It wasn't working. So I sold my son's 2000 sq. ft. home. That allowed me to pay down our debt by half. I made a large donation to the VA. They help me keep my husband for three extra years, and no one needs money than the VA. Then I realized that what I had left was going to be eaten up buy my beloved 1870 log cabin. It needs the well drilled a lot deeper or move altogether, it needs the septic reworked, it will need a new roof soon, some of the old wooden windows need replacing, and the list just keep growing. So I decided to sell our home of over 25 years. I'm told it will sell for over four times what we paid for it. That will allow me to buy an acre, build a 1600 sq. ft. open concept home for me, out in the Sam Housto National Forest. If all works as planned I should be able to bank about half of what this 2500 sq. ft. old rambling house will bring. Plus I need to move away from the craziness of Houston's big city life, and I'll be closer to my brother, and other people that can keep me in today's world instead of staying in the past. And that is just the outline the last few months for me.
@Ina I. Wonder , I truly hope that everything works out well for you. It seems that you have figured it out well.
I can't believe I missed this thread. How are you doing, so far, with your book? Is your book under Richard Paradon authorship? Is it in the market already? Kindle ebook? What's the title? I wish you success and all the good things your readers can benefit from the memoirs about your life.