Between Times

 Your girl is having a hard time making yet another switch, this one to the multi-tasking of taking care of all the finalities/legalities of the sale and, at the same time, finding a new house. Plus, she doesn't even have a calendar for the new year. Plus, she can't find her treasure trove of yellow tablets that she's probably packed away somewhere. 

Also, Fiorella accidentally stood up her wonderful realtor when she spent way too much time delivering Christmas cards to about six people in the neighborhood who had been especially kind to her and then drove down to the local shopping center to deposit a check and pick up a few things she needed and then took forever to get home because the weather was bad and she had to drive  v-e-r-y  s l o w l y. 

Good grief--now your girl can't track down all her checkbooks from four months ago onward, and she needs it to be sure she's fully paid the miracle workers who repaired her porch beam.  Nothing to do but be first in line on Monday when Chase opens and throw herself on the mercy of a Banker.  

Fio will also have to consult someone about the status of car payment and paying off her home mortgage which means there better be a lot of Hershey Nuggets lying around next week. There is only so much her overloaded brain can absorb without being refreshed by chocolate.

Hoping your girl and her tribe can find a nice house soon. It's hard to live alone.

 

 

 

 

Reporting In

 Whew--it's a wonder that Fiorella is writing today, but opening her computer and entering words of wisdom and wonder is an excuse for her to sit down for a few minutes instead of running around like the proverbial chicken with its head cut off. New Year's preps, you ask? Hahahahahah! As if Fio has any time for anything that doesn't involve selling the old house and buying a new house. Thus, today, she not only distributed those embarrassingly late Christmas cards to her pals in Lost River, but also dropped by the shopping center to pick up some light bulbs and deposit a check from the people who are buying her house. In the meantime, Realtor Mallary had compounded a good list of houses for sale that Fiorella and family have to check out as soon as possible. 

Fio also ran into the probable new owner outside in the yard where she was watching the men checking on the roof and, of course, your girl couldn't resist giving her a tour of secret places and filling the newbie in on the neighborhood. Maybe Fio will give her a copy of one of her romances too.

Hmm... maybe Fiorella can get a good start on the cozy she has in mind. Nothing like a teacup murder. 😁

Two Downs and an Up

 TUESDAY: Fiorella is exhausted--and hungry. She and Son L spent far too long tracing down and looking at houses, and when they opened up their lunches in mid-afternoon, they discovered hers had been filled wrong.  And after Son drove her home, she couldn't find her phone lists or the stacks of Christmas cards she'd taken with her to mail. An emergency trip to Walgreens for chocolate and Pandera for a bagette helped, but now there's tomorrow. And to think, when she woke up this morning she'd thought she'd be able to finish off her Christmas cards and work on the cozy mystery that popped into her head. GRRRRR! 

The houses she and Son looked at were not very inspiring. In fact, they were disappointing. It seems that because of the way she sold her house, she must buy a new one, when she'd rather have a gently-used older model that would give her more room.

Oh, Fio forgot to tell you that she mounted her Christmas cards, double-rowed, over the fireplace, something she couldn't do while the house was on the market, and it looks absolutely charming? Hmm...wonder if she'll have time to walk around to neighbors tomorrow and give them her own Christmas cards.

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

Aftermath of Christmas 2020

 Again, Fiorella has messed up. That previous post was supposed to have been posted yesterday. HOW THE HECK DOES THIS NEW BRAND OF BLOGGER WORK?!

Don't tell anyone, but your girl has dragged one of the smaller Persion rugs back out of the garage so Sonia Dog can have a warmer place to rest her gluteus maximus than the cold, bare concrete floor.

There's still more to go today regarding getting Fio's belated Christmas cards out, but the pile is dwindling. The first group will be dumped in the post-office mail box today. Hoping that by Christmastime next year, Fiorella will be settled and maybe have a granddaughter helping her.💗

OOOPS! Fio forgot she's got to get cards out to (1) friends, (2) neighborhood, (2) Mazda and Chase.

Does anyone else apologize to the refrigerator when it starts dinging because she hasn't closed it all the way?

 

 

Finishing Up Christmas

 The evolution of the long-hair style has begun. A couple of the female TV newscasters have tossing just one of those curls over a shoulder. Fio herself is waiting for her hair to grow long enough to braid. Yep--back to her childhood.

Sonia is clearly disappointed that nobody new is visiting today. She had a great time with each and every person who showed up for the Realtor's open house. 

It's catch-up day for your girl. She's still got Christmas cards to sign and mail. Then there's the rest of her baggage to box. Yep, some moving company is going to make a fortune off her!

Fiorella is so accustomed to being threatened by her computer that it seems strange that, thanks to Jake and Son L, it seems weird that nothing is going wrong.

Now that we have a price on Fio's house, we can look at for-sale advertisements for the new one.

Christmas As It Comes

MERRY CHRISTMAS! And it's started out as a very happy Christmas for Fiorella. She's sold the house, which means she can move on into the next adventure in her life--finding another house, one that she can share with Son L and his family

Reminiscing as she gulped down her breakfast, Fio counted up the different houses she has lived in, starting with one on Stetler Avenue in Akron, Ohio. Her second house was in Waco, Texas, where her family moved to when she was in the second grade. Skipping over two college dorms, Fiorella's third residence was a small duplex--her first home as a married woman. Two years later, she and Husband moved to a more spacier rental, and then Husband's father rewarded them with a place of their own. Later, she and Husband financed a larger house themselves, and then, after the children took wing, they moved to the country and enjoyed five forested acres for several years................                                                     And now, your girl  is on the brink of buying house number eight to share with Son L and family. Wow!

What a restful Christmas day!The weather is coolish, the house is neat as a pin, and Son L will be coming over this afternoon to help Fio with her computer.

Hooray! Between Son L and Daughter's BF, your girl's computer was cleaned out enough that it's stopped sending out threatening messages. Yay!

MERRY, MERRY CHRISTMAS to ONE AND ALL!

'Twas the Night Before Christmas....

MORNING: It's the day before Christmas and suddenly droves of prospective buyers are coming out of the woodwork. Fio never guessed her house would arouse that  much interest--six showings yesterday and two showings so far this morning. 

THE SURPRISE: Sonia Dog was the star of the show. She loved everyone who came through the door, and they loved her.

AFTERNOON: To her surprise, Fio was at the table for most of the afternoon signing away her home to a young family which she'd particularly noticed during one of the showings because they'd removed their boots before coming into the house. Your girl is just now digesting the reality of the sale. It will mean a lot more work boxing up, but will also provide her more freedom--Doggie will be allowed to sleep in the master bedroom again and Fiorella won't have to hide the computer cords anymore.

ALL IN ALL: After two years of tension, Fio can finally relax. What a wonderful Christmas present. Thank you, God!

 

 

WHAT A DAY!!!

 Yo, ho, ho, and  bottle of rum--as if your girl ever drank a full bottle of anything alcoholic in her whole life. Sure, she joined in with the crowd when she was in college, but the interest soon faded. Other people weren't that lucky.

Hey, hey, hey! Six potential purchasers of of Fiorella's for-sale house and their entourages, all in masks, trailed through her abode today. All seemed to go well, but Fio was surprised that so many people could afford acreage.

Sonia is whimpering right now. All our visitors made a fuss over her at the door, then HAD THE NERVE to leave after they'd toured the house when what she wanted was for them to stay around longer. After all, Mommy is soooo boring.

Mommy was "boring" because she was tied up in pulling together a 2020 Christmas card during a pandemic in a house that had been turned upside down in preparation for sale. Sure, she'd had the sample 5"x7" from Kinko's for a while, but it took some deep thinking to come up with a project that was clever, simple, meaningful, and--most important--composed only of what she had on hand because she had to stay home and welcome her potential guests.

No problema! Your Fio is a veteran of using whatever is available so she rolled up her sleeves and hand-printed this year's Christmas message on graph paper in red ink, then glued it onto a greenish page ripped from a lined tablet, then cut tiny batches of holly out of a the remains of a deep green shoe box, then finished it off by using her trusty hole puncher to produce "berries" out of red paper which she glued onto the "holly" as needed.

 

 

Moving Onward!

When they got married, Husband and Fiorella were college students living on side jobs and subsidies from their parents, their first Christmas tree was only two feet tall, placed on a coffee table, and decorated by Fio's clever paper cut-outs and their parents' leftover adornments. Of course, as years passed by and their jobs got better, the trees got better too, but this year, as announced, your girl is skipping the tree altogether. But don't worry--she'll go full throttle next year. 

Speaking of full throttles, the house of Fiorella's dreams is now officially on the market. Now to check out what's available in the Austin area. Your girl wants two rooms of her own to house her art and writing, but she may not get it.

Fio still can't find that missing lens of her best glasses, but that ten-year-old pair--the one that would have given Husband conniptions because it's held together with Scotch tape--still does the trick. 

Mike of All Trades finished off the roof work this afternoon, and he also hauled off two  big lumps of cement, the ones that Fio couldn't even lift. Blessings on him😊

Hoping one of those antiviruses comes Fiorella's way because if there's one thing she learned during the past year, it's that she was not born to be a reclusive nun.

 

              

Regarding a Christmas Tree

 Fiorella never really realized how boring daytime TV is until the pandemic forced her to use it as her social medium because therwise, she'd be staring at the wall all day. Yep, her neighbors are distant, her dog has yet to learn Human-eez, and, for some strange reason, her family and friends don't want to stay on the telephone with her for hours on end.

Congratulate your girl. She's finally come up with a clever-but-meaningful Christmas card design. Today will be dedicated to its finalization, printing, and mailing....she hopes. 

Because it gets dark earlier now, Sonia Dog goes to sleep earlier and.... wakes up earlier. Needless to say, Fio is not too thrilled about Doggie having to answer the call of nature at five o'clock in the morning. 

Hoping all of your girl's posts are reaching you. She still hasn't figured out what has printed and what hasn't. Well, MERRY CHRISTMAS anyway!

   How odd it will be/ To not have a tree/ For Christmas time this year/ But I want to make clear/ To all I hold dear/ That they're still beloved by me 💗 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas 'round the Bend

 IS IT SUNDAY ALREADY? How did that happen?

Not that Fiorella has much Christmas prep work this year--at her request, she and Sonia Dog will be celebrating alone--but she's running ragged with keeping the house in pristine shape. After all, that gallows-looking erection at the top of her driveway will soon be hanging a FOR SALE sign.

Your girl's Christmas card will be out soon, but even now, she's wondering if she should change her theme from The Nativity to Santa Claus....or how about Partridge in a Pear Tree?

What's going on outside? It is cold, cold, COLD! Are we going to have snow? 

Fio's scotched her first two Christmas card candidates and has worked out a much simpler, more effective design, which she'll be posting soon. But first, she'll have to whisk her final copy off to Fed-Ex Kinko for a 100-card print out. Yep-- Fed-Ex, the envelope guys, and the post office make a killing off your girl each year.

Almost Christmas!

The twenty-fifth is fast closing in on Fiorella, and, despite the unrelenting TV reminders, your girl is not prepared for Christmas. In fact, aside from wishing everyone well, wrapping family gifts, and designing her usual original card, she won't be celebrating this year--at least not like she used to. 

As you will remember, Fio and Husband hosted a big, joyful family dinner for Christmas, and the year after his death, Fiorella did the same, but the next week, she dragged her beloved twenty-year-old fake tree, piece by piece, up to the road for the trash squad to collect. There was no other way. Her life had changed forever, and she'd have to sell her 3015 sq. fit home and chart a new path. The obvious choice was to set up housekeeping with Son L and his family because it would mean she could remain near her familiar stomping grounds in the Central Texas area, get to know her only grandchild, and help with finances. 

It has also meant emptying all her cupboards, shelves, and drawers, then packing everything away in boxes, then lugging said boxes into her three-car garage, which is now full. It also meant a lot of deep cleaning and expensive repairing, and that Fio is now living in a shell of a house, sort of like a care-taker. 

Of course, the virus hasn't helped her situation either--she misses the excitement of Christmas shopping.

But 2021 will be a new year and your girl has cautious hopes for it. After all, Biden will be president, Covid inoculations will be available, and Fio will be moving into a new home with Son L and his family. Wish her well!

Happy Ending

 Fiorella is terribly embarrassed--the fault was all hers. She lost the cord to her computer yesterday--well, as it turned out, she'd misplaced it rather than lost it. Uhm--full confession: she'd rolled the cord up into a ball and stuck it in back of her printer to semi-clear her counter because she'd been told a minor roof repair would be finished and real estate people would be visiting--neither of which happened. Needless to say, Son L is enlisting another company to take care of the roof job.

Concerned about her loss of computer communication, Fio woke up this morning with a dismal dark cloud over her head, but she decided to take a deep breath and plan out her Christmas cards, even though there was an annoying ping-ping-ping from somewhere around the desk across the room. Nothing to do but check it out. 

WAIT A MINUTE! Isn't that the thick white block usually connected to my power cord? Hmm...what would happen if I pulled that cord out that seems to be attached to it?

And that is now Fiorella recovered her cord, learned she should pay attention to pings, and lived happily ever after.

Catching Up with the Day

Fiorella can't seem to get her posting times correct simply because The new Blogger keeps never gave her a "here's how" chart. Instead, it's every man/woman for himself/herself, and Fio was never good at guessing games. Also, she's gotten the idea that her homey kind of blog was not what The Powers That Be where trying to attract. Won't they be surprised when a hundred years from now, school kids will be studying her comments and observations on the twentieth century!

Time marches on. The FOR SALE sign will be hammered into the ground in front of your girl's beloved abode and some realtors will be coming over to look at it, which means Fio will have to clean the place up again. You'd be surprised how much hair a large dog can shed overnight.

MY KINGDOM FOR SOME DECENT WHITE PAINT TO TOUCH UP SOME CABINETS!

Daughter and her significant other visited this evening, and Fio was reminded of how little contact she has with the rest of the world, partially because of the virus, but mostly because she's lived alone for the past two years. Sonia Dog is a great comfort, but not much of a conversationalist, and, being that Fiorella lives on acreage, she rarely even sees her neighbors.  But if things go as planned, Fiorella will be moving in with Son L and his family within a few months, which she hopes will sharpen up her conversational skills. 

She also hopes to revive her writing career. There are  at least four books and about twenty short stories packed away in boxes in the garage. Hoping they're still relevant.

 

 

Hoping and Hoping

 Fiorella likes to sharpen her decaying brain with the newspaper anagrams each morning, and most of the time, she's able to--sooner or later--rearrange the letters into words--but today was spectacular. At almost first glance, she recognized favor, bribe, nimble, and shadow. Hoping this is a portent of what the rest of the day will be like 💛

Hooray, hooray, the vaccines arrived in Austin today, which means there's hope yet for Texas, the country, and the world 💖

Fio is still glowing from her heart doctor's positive review, especially since she NEEDS that extra energy to finish up the last of the house repairs and prepare some resemblance of a holiday celebration.

If anyone asks what Fiorella wants for Christmas, it's a computer that works ALL the time, not just when it feels like it. (Is there such a paragon?)

 

 

 

Hot Off the Press!

 Whazzup, Fiorella?

Well, Fio had a surprisingly G-R-R-R-E-A-T afternoon, which she wasn't expecting at all because it was a visit to one of her many doctors' offices, the one she used to go to to get her finger pricked by a series of coumadin nurses until somebody decided to save money by firing the nurses and sending machines to patient's homes so they could draw their own blood, which your girl cannot bring herself to do. 

Got all that?

Second verse: The system has turned topsy-turvy again, and Fiorella was called in to Heart Hospital not only for a blood draw, but also to get her heart checked out, her blood pressure recorded, and a few other related prods and pokes. Apparently. she will have a twice-a-year check-up from now on, with a special set-up for her finger prick every month by by a doctor down the road. Sounds great to Fio😀

Oh, but the best part of her visit was becoming better acquainted with Dr. Mack, an energetic young man who knows how to explain things, who seems to care, and who... who actually LAUGHS! Fio could stay in his office all day!

The next best thing that happened was that the helpful, pleasant woman behind the counter in the waiting room tried her hand at fixing Fiorella's glasses, one lens of which had escaped its rim. Fio, who has good arm strength, but very little finger strength, couldn't persuade the lens to slide back into place, but her new friend did it in three shakes of the proverbial lamb's tail.

EXTRA: Last month, two different medical personnel casually referred to "your diabetes" to Fio, which surprised her because she had never been informed she had it. Therefore, wanting to set the record straight, she carried her big bag of daily pills into Dr. Mack's office for interpretation. He confirmed that none of them were for diabetes and there was nothing about diabetes on her chart. Whew--dodged that bullet, but maybe should cut down on the Easter candy. 😊

From Beginning to End....

 Fiorella wants so much to build a fire in the den on this cold day, but she dare not do so now that the house is up for sale and everything has to look perfect at all times. Hmmm...maybe she could turn on the fake fireplace in the front room. To be continued....

Monday can't come soon enough for your girl. She wants to buy some white paint to touch up a few nicks and scratches around the house, but there is NO, NO, NO way that she's gonna go into a store packed to the brim on the weekend.

Ahem--don't you think that a buyer would want to pay extra for a house that a prominent blogger has lived in? Just askin' 😊

One thing you can bet on--no matter how cold it is later in the day, Fiorella is going to be outside moving things around and tidying up the back porch. This girl likes to stay active, inside and out.

End of story: Fio couldn't figure out how to start the front room fireplace so she turned up the heat.

 

 

 

On the Go, Go, Go....

 WTF is going on with Blogger? So much for your girl's posterity--everything Fio wrote on the llth has disappeared and she's high and dry again. THIS NEVER HAPPENED WITH THE ORIGINAL BLOGGER! 

Fio finally figured out how to turn the windshield wipers on and off in the new car this morning, but opening up the trunk still eludes her. Also, she has a problem with her passenger-side front mirror because she isn't tall enough to get a good look at next lane over. Maybe adding a cushion to her driver's seat might help--and maybe also cure her problem with sun glare.

EEEEK! Fiorella sorted through her breakfast pills today and discovered that the pharmacy hadn't kept up with her usual dosage so she got on the phone lickity-split and will be picking up a refill at the drive-through later this afternoon. Skipping her coumadin/warfaran is not a safe thing for Fio to do.

Fiorella feels like a stranger in her own home. So much furniture has been cleared out of the house and into the garage that it echoes, and what's left has been shoved into drawers and closets, never to be seen again.

Three "tours" through the house have been booked for next week, so your girl will soon be running around trying to make it even more perfect. And then there's Christmas to prepare for....

 

 

 

 

 

Closer and Closer and Closer

 The pictures of the house got taken, but not while Fio was on site. Instead, she was at the doctor's, waiting for two hours to get her heart checked. Good news all the way around--your girl's heart checked out so it will be fourteen months until she goes under the knife again, plus Sonia Dog was fast sleep on the back porch when when Fio got back to the house, which means she'll accept exile while prospective buyers are in the house. To top it off, Fiorella, on her umpteenth search of the premises, finally found her purse this morning, and in the most logical place--the top drawer to her bedside table in the master bedroom. 

First thing this morning, your girl will be trying to gussy up the guest room and the master bedroom. The problem is that she's already packed up all the sheets, pillows and pretty covers/quilts and isn't quite sure where they are stored. 

Fio also needs to create a centerpiece for the dining table. Someone else had messed with great-grandmother's Haviland and tried to use a couple of the big bowls for said centerpiece, but it didn't look right so Fiorella moved the bowls back to their cabinet and will search Target for something more suitable.

Your faithful correspondent has to confess that she accidentally turned over the big trash can while she was filling it and couldn't upright it. Nothing to do but transfer her  sizeable load into the smaller can and drag it up to the road for the weekly pick-up. Maybe some nice TALL person will come along and save the day. (Hint, hint!)

Hey, hey--Fiorella has framed Son L's drawing and it really brightens up the dining room. Now all she has to do is create a dining table centerpiece and toss a couple of throws on the guest room and master for the house to go on the market.

 

Getting Ready for Picture-taking Tomorrow

 Fio's house is buzzing again. Son L and his friend are moving all the furniture off the first floor  onto the back porch so they can to make they can make your girl's cement floor-shine. Long-time friends like Josh are worth their wait in gold.

She'll admit it--Fiorella has lost her bright, pink-red purse. She was looking for a place where it would be out of the way when the nice people came over to bring her "surfaces" up to par, but now she can't find it. Luckily, both of her charge cards were in her desk drawer at the time, but WHERE THE HECK DID SHE PUT DOWN HER PURSE?

If your girl had known that crew after crew would come in and tear apart her charmingly organized furniture, she would have stacked everything into a fatalistic pile in the garage to begin with. 

And the whole time, Fiorella is fighting off a painful left knee and a relapse of her fake right hip. There's also an upcoming visit to her heart doctor. Let's face it--Fiorella's alveolar valve is probably in line for another replacement. 

Wanna know what it's like is a house preparing to move? Well, Fio forgot to take her pills with breakfast so she swallowed them all around noon, but now she wonders if it she fed herself a double dose.

Panic and Prayer

Fiorella is in full panic mode because her realtor will be coming over to take pics tomorrow morning at 10:o-clock so yours truly will have to stay up late to get everything done by that is needed to be done, like clearing off all the counter tops, cleaning out the hearth, shaping up the guest room, and providing an extra house key. Then she has to drive into Round Rock for one o'clock a check-up on her aortic valve And all of this with her purse still missing--driver's license and all. PRAY FOR HER!

 

 

Progress?

 Fiorella is in the somewhat uncomfortable position of sitting on the couch in her den while a husband-and-wife deep-cleaning team shine up everything in sight. Apparently. it's the way one prepares houses for sale nowadays, but it makes Fio nervous, like that she has guests she can't entertain--especially since they are deaf.

Okay, Fiorella admits that she isn't much of a housewife. Husband commanded the kitchen more and more as he grew older, but neither he nor Fio did much cleaning, i.e, the oven is a crusted over mess, which has never bothered your girl because all she uses it for is to warm up her daily tin-foil-wrapped salmon paddy. And tomorrow--sigh--just think...she'll have a sparkling clean oven that will have to be kept that way in order to attract buyers. (Maybe she'll eat out more.)

Selling a house has become a lot more complicated than when Fiorella and husband sold their first home. Sure, there were a lot of papers to produce and statements to sign, but no one even checked out the kitchen--and they got a good price for the place even though they hadn't hired anyone to do deep cleaning.

But what is Doggie doing during this process, you ask. Well, Fio was afraid Sonia would go whacko with unknown people in the house, but all it took was an introduction and she settled down on the couch and fell asleep.Tomorrow might be a little more difficult because Son L and his wife's brother will be shining up the concrete floors, which probably means we'll all have to stay outside for a good time while it dries.

And what about Fiorella? Well, she's her usual self--she lost the list the realtor had written out for her, lost one of her credit cards, and can't fill out an information form because, although she duly pays her bills, she has no idea what each one is for. Pray for her.

From GoopGone to Enedelia

 As usual, too much to do and so little time. Fiorella is trying to GoopGone away the remains of the paper tape that had decorated the backside of the kitchen door and, at the same time, experimenting with using white acrylic paint to cover up the brownish splotches left on the wall left by whatever was used to fill the scars left on the walls from your girl's artwork. (Got all that?)

Tomorrow is the day that the clean-up crew will come over to scour the house. Fiorella has pledged to have all counters cleared off, but she has no idea how they will handle the floors and what furniture is should be on display. 

Crap--Fio can't find one of her charge cards, which makes her nervous. She's reported it so, ten to one, she'll find the card in the car.

Speaking of the car, your girl is going to try a different tactic to get Doggie accustomed to the new car--she's going to leave both back doors open and put a pile of hamburger in back of the central console.

Did Fio tell you that she's made connection with a fellow writer from her days of glory, Enedelia Obregon? You might be hearing more about her as time goes on 💖

Wonder Woman, WHERE ARE YOU?

 Pressure, pressure everywhere, and not a minute to think. Fiorella is going crazy....er. She's still packing away the house, of course, and, at the same time, she's trying to fill out realtor information forms, like who takes care of the septic tank (Charlie Something-or-other) and who supplies her electricity, when ALL FIO DOES IS PAY THE BILLS!

Then there is the Sonja Dog problem. After a disastrous situation six months ago, Doggie will NOT enter a car again, and your girl's plan to keep her away from the house while it was being gussied up by the realtor's henchwomen was to take her on a L O N G ride. Now it's to take her on a longer walk than Fio herself can endure.

Added to everything else, Fiorella needs to sneak away at some point and pick up a door-knocker at a hardware shop to cover up the nasty-looking knob that now opens up the kitchen trash bin. She also needs a little spare time to walk up to the road and pick up her mail and, back at the house, to clear off the countertops that she's supposed to have taken care of. Then there are The Children that she has yet to post message about on FB yet and the houses on Zillow that she hasn't had time to look at yet.

See ya tomorrow!

A Day of Preparation

 Sometimes Fio outdoes herself. She had been whining about having packed away all her artist paintbrushes that she could have used to to touch up minor nicks on the walls, and then, yesterday evening, she glanced at the container full of what-nots that had sitting on her dressing table forever and realized that there were two primo paintbrushes in the the midst of the mess.

Son L is coming over to help with the packing today. Let's hope Fiorella can talk him into helping her refresh the septic tank too. Your girl has no problem tossing in the tablets, but she can't open the tank itself on her own. Ah...country living!

Whoever buys Fio's house will also get a treasure chest of leftover cleaning products and light bulbs.  Your girl and her helpers have gone all out and then some. Of course, a few of her favorites may make the trip with her to the new home--it will need cleaning too.

Fiorella binged on Midsomer Murders the other day, which was a mistake. The plots have always been preposterous, but the one in which the widow unknowingly married the villain, who thad killed her husband, then killed her son, which made her to try to kill him, was totally overboard--especially since the son was so darn handsome 💔

The rugs are all out of the house and the rooms are now so empty that they echo, but Fio and Doggie will be staying here until they can move into a new home.

 

 

Is It Friday Already?

"No one needs your old clothes anymore" runs the FB headline about how donations now overwhelm the world market. That may be true of the big scene, but Fio bets that the local scene is still hungry--you know--the clothes closets run by local churches and PTAs. Back in the day when mothers made clothes for their children--at least their girls--Fio will never forget seeing a schoolmate wearing her own last-year's Christmas dress, easily identifiable because of the yarn-embroidered sleeves. It was a lovely creation, but Fio had outgrown it, and, since there were no younger cousins living nearby, Mom donated it to the PTA clothes closet. Fio, somewhat startled at first, was glad the dress had a second showing and tried to be extra friendly to its wearer from then on. After all, we had a relationship.

Interesting.... Fiorella almost forgot to take her prescribed pills when it came time for breakfast this morning, but she's never forgotten to eat breakfast when it came time for her pills 😁

When Fio was a young mother and didn't have the time to participate, a rage for fine needlework ran through stylish womankind, which meant your girl ended up with not only her mother's embroidered Christmas tree wrap-around--the one she drags out each year--but her mother-in-law's needlework too, all of which she is grateful for. Fiorella herself enjoyed sewing and fine needlework as a child and hopes someday to take them all up again--if she ever has the time.

Fio's finally found a box she can entrust Husband's photograph enlargement to, and she'll stick a smaller oil painting of herself in there with it, just to be safe. Actually, the container had been right under her nose the whole time. Yes, you guessed it--the tall, skinny box that the Jeweler's Box boxes come in.

Being of unsound mind and hungry body, your girl drove out in the late afternoon to snag some Moon Pies, the joy of her youth, and she paid for her disgression all the way home. In fact, it was a miracle she arrived home at all because she had to drive into the sun, and no matter how high she lifted her chin and stretched her spine, she couldn't escape its blinding rays. Why, Fiorella asks, doesn't Detroit make cars for women who, even though they were the tallest girl in the class through grade school, are now just five-two?

 

 

 

By the way, Fio's computer opened up easily today, although it's still saying that "Your disc is almost full."

Moving Jitters

 It took several hours this morning for your girl's computer to decide to allow her access, and she is NOT amused. The only thing that kept her sane is that (1) Robert's guys came over bright and early to finish off the balcony beam replacement and (2) Lance, Chassity's husband, drove in to take care of a few last-minute minor repairs to the house. The whole time, of course, Fiorella was taking out trash, prettying up the downstairs, and figuring out how to make her large upstairs clothes closet look presentable.

If you run into a pair of glasses with bendable brown frames, please contact Fio, who lost them a week or so ago. She has others, of course--most notably the delicate pair that are held together with scotch tape and the purple pair that are missing a wing--but the brown ones are her favorite. Ah, well....they'll probably show up somewhere in the house, and Fiorella doesn't travel very far these days. 

Fiorella is approaching the next stage of her move now that she has a newish car, the balcony is mended, the minor inside break-downs have been put to right, and the outside faucets are now bound with old socks. She also (puff, puff) lugged two full trash cans up to the top of the road for tomorrow's pick-up. Maybe this evening, she will work on getting the glue off the remaining two doors on which she had exhibited her artwork.

Somewhere in there, your girl wants to start work on her Christmas card--either a sonnet or a clever family art show-off. The inspiration will come when it comes.

The date for showing the house is fast approaching and Fiorella is nervous. What if no one wants it, or what if she can't get a good price for it? So much rests on a good sale, and Fiorella has been working her head off for a happy ending for almost two years now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heading toward the Deadline

 Fiorella took the afternoon off to enjoy a Midsomer Murder Mystery. Well, actually, it was more of an escape from her self-assigned task of the afternoon--continuation of preparing the house for sale. It was also a way of calming her nerves--the constant urgency in the background of American shows drives her crazy.

Why haven't the guys returned to paint the new beam that now holds up the balcony? Does she have to hire another crew to do that, or climb a ladder herself? And how does she pay them?

Fio's running late today/Although she has a lot to say/But even more she wants to do/But, sadly, that is nothing new.

Please pray for Fiorella tomorrow when she will again try to install the dog guard in the new car. Sonia has an amazing memory, weighs 130 lbs, and did NOT like it when Fio installed  the contraption last year.

Your girl is hoping that virtual tour that Mallary has planned won't include Fio's master closet. It's well-appointed and roomy, but Fio hasn't cleared all her clothes out of it yet.

Not Much to Say

 I'm blank-blank eight

So don't be late--

Otherwise,

I'll evaporate 

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The computer is playing games with Fio again.

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Is today when the British murder mysteries are on TV?

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Hooray, the wonderful crew that came over to repair Fiorella's balcony is doing a GREAT job, and even cleans up for itself when it closes up shop for the day!

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Instead of ordering four POUNDS of salmon for for Fio's midday meals, Daughter accidentally ordered four SALMON, which means that about ten POUNDS of salmon ended up stacked on top of each other in your girl's freezer. Fiorella cut the first two rather handsome fish into meal-sized portions, wrapped them in foil, and placed them back in the fridge, then cut up the third fish today. You can guess what she will be doing tomorrow.