I feel guilty that I didn’t make an entry when we finally got to the Alabama house on Sunday but I was in so much pain from my back by then all I did was hit the sack. I did talk to my sisters online very briefly since I couldn’t reach them by phone but just couldn’t stay upright long enough to make an entry.

We had stopped Saturday night just north of Valdosta. All the motels were full in the area south of where we stopped due to NASCAR races on Sunday. I forgot just how big those events are here in the South. I actually got a good nights rest since the mattress was very comfortable. That, and my last Vicodan, was the only reason I made it all the way home on Sunday without screaming. I really MUST get into the doctor and find out what I did to my back to make me feel like this. Last night I slept with the heating pad all night. I got up at some ungodly hour and took some Vanquish so at least I can sit upright like a real person this morning (laughing like a loon).

The house was in good shape and it seemed like we had just stepped out for a bit. Hardly any dust anywhere, thank goodness but our patio table was just loaded with pollen from the trees at the back of the property. Everything seems to be blooming here, including all the Beast’s fruit trees. He went from tree to tree, checking them out thoroughly, and giving them some much needed water. On Monday, a few of the trees that did NOT have buds burst out with them so he feels they are happy to see him (weirdo).

This morning I made our first pot of coffee with my Bunn and it tastes wonderful compared to the POS coffee maker we WERE using. It actually belongs in our travel trailer and is headed out there today.

I have the trunk of the car about half empty of all the clothes I had put in there. Today I will empty it and get started on unpacking some of the boxes we have with us.

I made arrangements for a landline phone to be installed. Now listen to this, it can take TWO WEEKS to get one installed here! I was stunned. However, the person on the phone assurred me that it won’t take that long. We shall see.

Anyway, that’s about all I can say at the moment. Will let you know about anything else of matter that goes on IF and WHEN it happens.

Have a great day!

Well, it’s Friday night, or should I say Saturday morning since it’s after midnight. I woke up at 11:30 and, try as I might, cannot get back to sleep. I went to bed at 8 pm so it’s not like I haven’t had ANY sleep. It’s just not good since we leave in the morning for our trip to the new house.

As I packed the last six boxes of things from the kitchen cabinets, I looked around and thought how empty the house feels. It isn’t really since we are leaving some things to make the house seem less cold. It’s a type of *presentation*. I left decorator towels in both bathrooms, decorator candles and an artificial palm plant in the master bath. There are also small rugs in both bathrooms. Light touches but they DO make a difference. The plant shelf in the living room area still has a large Key West scene made from driftwood and coral and I have another small Key West style *house/picture* thingy hanging on the dining room wall.

The Beast is coming back in two weeks to pick up the boxes we couldn’t get on our trailer, as well as the big screen TV. We are also leaving behind the leather living room set since his brother wants it and will return with him to get it. He plans on renting a trailer one-way to transport it. The set is in excellent condition but too big for our new home. I used a rattan set I had here. It was fated to be since it was one of the things I refused to get rid of when we moved from our 4-bedroom home in the Fort Lauderdale area. I’ll have a tiny bit of Florida that I will have with me in Alabama.

Anyway, here I am, sleepless in Port Charlotte, watching the moon set and grateful that the hubby hasn’t packed his Mac up into the car. Gives me time to bring anyone interested up to speed.

I am still in pain from whatever it is that I did to myself the other day. I’m wearing heat patches in two spots and taking my heating pad with me for the motel tomorrow night. I just hope they have a convenient outlet for it…..LOL I’m looking forward to being able to take one of the two pain pills I have left so I will be relatively painfree for the drive tomorrow. I just HATE that drive and being in pain won’t help any.

My ex-sister-in-law, whom I have adopted as a sister over the objections of my brother, called me tonight. She didn’t realize that THIS was the weekend we were moving, she said I was just on her mind and she called me to see how I was and let me know she loved me. She asked me if I was going to miss Florida. How can I answer that?

Of course I will. I’ve lived here most of the 42 years I have been married (43 in August). All four of my children were born here and so were all five of my grandkids. There are lots of both good and bad memories I will carry with me and reminisce about during the long winters in Alabama. What I won’t miss is the traffic and the rude New Yorkers that come to visit or moved here. You would think they INVENTED Florida for their benefit and all you hear are complaints about the lack of culture, museums, etc. WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! We DO have wonderful museums of a type you can’t even find in New York. The Edison and Ford Museums are in Fort Myers, we have Art Museums in all the major cities and Tampa, which is less than 100 miles away seems to get every traveling major art show I have ever heard of in the USA.

We have wonderful zoos and Animal Parks, Sea Worlds all over the place and don’t forget Disney World, Epcot Center, Universal Studio and other attractions. All here in culturally backward Florida. Where else can you swim with dolphins? Or, scarier, swim with sharks, which many scuba divers find *interesting* (shudder)

Of course I will miss Florida but I have found that Alabama has some wonderful natural waterfalls and attractions of its own. The hubby and I plan on visiting them with our travel trailer and really feeling like we are finally retired.

I’m also going to be physically close to three of my five grandchildren. I used to see a lot of them before they moved to Tennessee six years ago. My son plans on coming to visit us again with a couple of them for the weekend shortly after we move up permanently. Anther son and daughter will be only five hours away from us (they live in Louisville) and I will be able to see them, too.

Add the fact that, on my annual trek to Chicago for our family reunion, I can hit all of them on the way if I drive PLUS another sister of mine in Indiana (grin). It’s not that long a trip from our area of Alabama but I can drag it out a couple days and enjoy it.

Well, I think I will try to get back to sleep now that I have brought this blog current. Tomorrow starts the long journey to the new house and then all the dreaded UNpacking. I hope to get the new house a bit more organized as I go along. I don’t feel the need to rush at the moment and don’t want to have to do it all over.

Goodnight all and wish us luck!

We are down to the wire almost. Yesterday was a big packing day for me. I also had a HUGE pile of stuff that was either duplication of things we already had at our Alabama house or (blushing here) clothes that I was no longer able to wear but just hated to give up. I got serious with myself and started really going through them. End result was either a trunkful of stuff for Goodwill or someone from Freecycle. Freecycle won.

I emailed this gal that had come to pick up some really good dishes, crystal, pots and pans and other household items for her brother and his family. He had taken a civilian job in Columbia after retiring from the Army. He and his family were only there a short time before he was diagnosed with an inoperable brain cancer. To receive the medical care he needed, the family had to return to the U.S.A. but couldn’t afford to reship all their household items. They could only take what they were allowed on the plane.

Needless to say, Freecycle helped furnish their home and they were sadly lacking a lot of things other than essentials. I was told the sister-in-law cried when she got all the stuff I sent to her. The dish set alone had all the goodies that go with it, including matching coasters, casserole, lasagna pan, etc. etc.

The gal came over within 45 minutes and took everything I had, including the clothes. She not only saved me the trip to Goodwill but I know that anything they do not use will go to someone else in the Freecycle group. Bless you Michelle.

The Beast and I were concerned that we might not make our self-appointed deadline but, now that all the excess stuff is gone, I could do a more honest appraisal and we will make it easily. Friday morning we will do the final loading of the trailer (it’s more than half packed already) and we will hit the road on Saturday morning sometime. We only hope to make it as far as Valdosta the first day (we no longer drive to exhaustion now that we are older and wiser) but will still make it to NE Alabama and our home on Sunday afternoon. All without killing ourselves (grin).

One scary thing happened a couple days ago. Sister #3′s significant other (they’ve been together over 20 years now and are more married than some married people I know) recently had some hair-raising back surgery. He actually had two spinal discs CHISELED out and replaced with titanium disks or some such metal. I read enough about what was done to be scared to death for him and know more than I ever wanted about it. He was doing wonderful (I spent four days with them shortly after he came home from the hospital and was amazed). Then, on Sunday morning, the incision was inflamed and oozing a watery pus. His temperature had dropped and he was only semi-lucid. He refused to let my sister call 9-1-1 (they won’t take a patient that refuses service) so she tried squeezing some of the liquid, cleaned it off with alcohol and put some antibiotic ointment on it. Monday morning she got ahold of the doctors office and he told them to come right in so he could check it out.

Turns out it was NOT really unusual for it to happen. The doctor squeezed more of the fluid out, cleaned it up, bandaged it and sent them home with a prescription for antibiotics. After just two days, it’s looking much better and he’s back on the road to recovery. At his age (in his 70′s now), you worry about everything that happens to them. My sister would be a lost soul without him, too, I think.

Today I get the results of my neuropathy test and my prescription, I am sure. A break in the routine we’ve had going but I’m sure I will be glad to get out in the sunshine for a bit. I’m getting a bit sick of being indoors when the weather here has turned to the good. It will be Takeout Food Time after today because the kitchen gets packed up and the fridge cleaned out. Garbage and recycling day is Thursday and the Beast will not want to make a run to the dump before leaving unless absolutely necessary. On Thursday, he will mow our yard for the last time. After that, the riding mower goes to our neighbor. He sold it to him at a good price (it’s less than a year old and works like a champ) and the neighbor is going to keep the lawn cut until the house sells. Good deal for everyone. The neighbor is semi-retired and has the time.

Not sure when I will be able to add another entry. Might not until we actually get to the Alabama house but I’m sure the trip itself will be an adventure. As a diabetic, I need regular meals. As a MAN, my hubby could get by on snacking items (nuts, chips, cookies, milk, Cheesit’s) so I am glad we have our cell phones. If he goes too long, I call him and tell him “IT’S TIME!” and he grudgingly stops somewhere. I love the roadside signs we have here in Florida aloong our interstates. Before each exit, it has signs that tell you what food restaurants are coming up. Makes it very nice if you want a Micky D’s, Denny’s or something nicer…..TGIFridas, Olive Garden or Ruby Tuesday’s for example.

Once we are on the road, it will be a relief from all this damn packing.

Have a great day!

I had to go to the doctor’s office today for testing on damage to the nerves in my feet and legs due to my Type 2 diabetes. It’s one of the bad things about diabetes if not controlled well and I, unfortunately, had a time when it was not.

I noticed unusual feelings in my feet and worried about it because there is an old saying that “..diabetics die from the feet up”. I had a step-aunt that ended up with an amputated foot just because she got a blister that didn’t heal. Scary stuff, diabetes. Adult onset (Type 2) has become very common in the USA with so many people being overweight considered a major cause.

It’s call *diabetic neuropathy* and the tests for it are a lot simpler these days than when I first had it done 8 years ago. Then they used needles, much like acupuncture ones. I was amazed because I didn’t feel them at all and the test was more tingling than anything. The new one is like having a rubber band snapped against your feet and legs. It took longer for the strips to be put on than the actual test. Since the results are recorded on a small, hand-held device and then transmitted to a neurologist, I have to wait until Wednesday afternoon for the results. If I need it, and I am assumming I will just from my symptoms, the doctor has medication he will prescribe for me to mitigate the symptoms. I have no idea if they will help *heal* the nerves or not. Sometimes our bodies do amazing things if given a bit of help. I will have to wait and see.

The appointment was early (for me….10:15am) so I planned the rest of my day for after that. I had to go to the post office for stamps and to mail off our income tax to the IRS. Since we knew we had to pay, I didn’t rush to do that. But we always send it Certified Mail, Return Receipt so that we are sure it was received. I sure don’t want an accidental audit.

I stopped to say goodbye to some casual friends that I really like and will miss their company. The Beast didn’t like them so I only got to see them when he was out of town or I was in that area of our town. I didn’t spend much time with them since they did know we were moving, just not when. A few tears and I returned home to more packing and taping. The trailer is as packed as we can get it until The Beast decides to get the big screen TV and stand in it.
We have boxes stacked and ready to *fill in* as soon as that is done. I’m afraid he’s going to have to do it no later than Thursday and it means he will miss his Miami Heat game on Friday night (laughing here because some things are just more important than a damn basketball game). I have to then UPS the receivers to the satellite company so we don’t get charged for those. We have a different satellite company providing our service up in Alabama or it would be one more box to pack into the trailer.

I spent about an hour notifying the phone company, electric company, etc. of the move. Some things get shut off, others just needed a billing address but only have two more to go. I even had to notify the utilities up in Alabama because we’ve been being billed here in Florida. It’s amazing how dense some customer service people can be but I finally got everyone to understand that we are MOVING and NOT COMING BACK except for the closing when the house sells.

Our neighbors are shocked because we don’t already have a sign up from the real estate firm handling the listing. They can’t even imagine moving out before the house sells. No thank you. Been there, done that and no matter how you plan, even with professional movers, if THEY don’t pack, you are NEVER ready. As it is, we will probably still be packing up stuff for hubby’s next trip right up until we leave.

I got rid of lots of good stuff when we moved over to the Gulf Coast from the Atlantic Coast of Florida because we were down-sizing and 3000 sq. ft holds a LOT of stuff. Move into a 2000 sq. ft house and I was STILL giving away stuff that just wouldn’t fit (but I thought would….laugh). Now, as we are moving into a 1250 sq. ft. house, I am doing the same thing again. At least the people who belong to Freecycle are benefiting. I know I mentioned them before but go to www.freecycle.org and find the one for your area. They are all over the USA now and a wonderful group. It allows you to give away stuff that is still useful to people who need it for one reason or another. I found out that my complete set of dishes and some small electric appliances went to a family that came here from South America with just the clothes on their back. He is American and had developed an inoperable brain tumor. He had to return here since he is a veteran to receive free medical care at the local VA hospital. He is only in his 40′s and has two young children. The tumor is treatable but not operable so no one knows how long he will last. His family paid to bring them up here but couldn’t afford to transport the household goods. They have managed to get them into a house and find furniture for the bedrooms, kitchen and living room from Freecycle. Bless their hearts and Freecycle for being there for them.

Anyway, little-by-little, all the rooms in this house are being emptied. It’s kind of sad because I really love this house. It WAS, after all, our dream house. We thought it was the last move we would ever make and spent a lot on upgrades that we wanted from prior experience in owning homes. I even had under eave outlets for my Christmas lights. I am hoping I can have that done post-construction on our new house in Alabama since it really makes life just a little easier. I love Christmas and have lots of decorations I’ve accummulated over the years.

I have almost run out of boxes so it’s back to Uhaul tomorrow for some more and some more tape. I could get the tape cheaper at Staples or Office Depot but that would mean driving several miles in different directions and is a waste of MY time.

The beast and I were too tired to think about cooking anything so he went to Subway to pick up a sandwich he likes and I got my chicken wings. After that I got ready for bed because I was hurting in spots that made me miserable. I took some Advil and hit the sack. Thank goodness for the body pillow we got as a gift from one of our friends in Germany. I clutched that all night and was very comfortable for a change. I sometimes wonder if I would enjoy a featherbed………..

Have a great day!

I am 60 years old. If I don’t look in the mirror, I don’t FEEL that old but life moves on, whether you want it to or not.
I am an optimist by nature, preferring to believe the best of everyone and tend to accept what happens and move on. I figure, it will either work itself out or not and there is no use getting an ulcer over things you cannot control. Do what you can but be ready to take whatever happens in the best possible way. One thing I HAVE had happen that I CAN control (thank goodness for Lady Clairol) is I developed Cruella DeVille gray streaks in my hair but no one can tell now. Ha, ha, ha!

For most of my adult life, I have been fairly healthy. Oh, I developed Type 2 diabetes about 10 years ago but with oral medication, that was under control and hardly a bother at all. Then I got this great idea. I was fat (about 220 lbs) so I would go on a sensible diet, lose weight and live longer and healthier. Right? Another ha, ha, ha!

I DID lose weight. In fact, I lost 120 lbs. I went from *comfortable grandma* figure to skinny and ghastly looking. I developed wrinkles I had never seen before. Worse….they were EVERYWHERE! People tried to tell me I looked awful but I was so sure I was healthy. My doctor kept telling me I was in *good shape*. For what? An Etheopian? I was eating like a fiend but not gaining any of that lost weight back.

I finally went to a new, highly-recommended doctor and he found my diabetes out of control. I admit, I had stopped monitoring my blood sugar because of the high cost of the testing strips. But….it was over 300! Not to worry, the new doctor put me on two new medications instead of the old one but now I had to take them twice a day to get my diabetes back under control. It took almost two months. I test daily now, regardless of the cost of the test strips. Can you blame me?

Anyway, so my diabetes is under control but all of a sudden, I am in PAIN. I mean with a capitol P type pain. My new doctor is running all these tests to try to find the source. We discover I have some mild kidney damage and he puts me on medication for THAT. Still pain and it’s getting worse. I am finally driven to the emergency room one Sunday morning and the ER doctor gives me a morphine drip and takes xrays of my abdomen. Lo and behold, the end result is that my gall bladder is loaded with stones and that results in surgery a few days after my doctor gets the report.

Now, gall bladder surgery has come a long way since one of my sisters had hers 20 years ago. She has this big, nasty scar. Me? I have one that is maybe two inches long and two small ones. It is, however, still major surgery and the surgeon tells me 4-6 weeks to heal. In the meantime, I am STILL in pain. Oh sure, different now but PAIN. He did give me some pain pills but gave me a hard time about it. There are times I hate doctors and their total indifference to YOUR pain. Ask a nurse, and she will tell you horror stories about doctors who end up in the hospital or have surgery. They don’t want to feel ANY pain. But you? They say *tough it out* (sticking out tongue here).

When I saw my own doctor, he tells me that NORMAL people recover well in 4-6 weeks but diabetics don’t heal as fast so…………… I am still recovering and still in pain. It’s not as devastating as it was but it still interferes with my life as we are trying to pack and move. I have become a total fan of both Advil and Aleve. They help make life tolerable at least……most times.

I am also having a recurrence of an old pain problem. A muscle in my side that tightens up into a ball that’s about the size of a baseball. I spend time with heating pads or a hot bath to calm that one down. I can’t do much about that right now because I have to see a neurologist. That one is the result of an old injury that left a nerve bundle pinched in my thoracic area of the spine (mid-back). I obviously re-injured that since it was never *resolved*. It just kind of faded away. So old age IS overtaking me, whether I want it to or not. Then, hopefully, I will find some relief to the pain and be able to go on with my life.

In the meantime, I am still packing, sorting and putting stuff out by the curb that we won’t be needing at the new, smaller house. Amazing the stuff you accummulate over the years, isn’t it?

I am married to the same man for 43 years now. Seems incredible that we have even lived that long. He’s always been a bit of a beast with a short temper and has always been very exciteable over the dumbest things. But I digress.
Five years ago, the Beast had a stroke. A brainstem stroke. Doctors and nurses both told the family that they had never seen anyone that survived one with their wits intact. They usually ended up a vegetable or dead. Plain and simple, that was it. They did NOT know the Beast very well (laugh).

The very same personality traits he possesses that led to the stroke are the ones that kept him alive and kicking. Some folks are *gentled* by such a devestating illness. Not the Beast. If anything, he got worse. It had left him paralyzed on his left side and he couldn’t *find* his arm so was constantly asking people to find it for him. He was smoking 3 packs of cigarettes a day at least and was a total addict. He was always screaming at me to take him outside and give him a cigarette. He got ugly about it when I refused. First of all, he was hooked up to all these machines keeping track of his blood pressure, oxygen levels and who knows what else? He would swear at me and tell me that if it had been ME in there, I would have found a way to get out and smoke. That might be true for anything except a stroke or heart attack. I think I would have been more concerned about getting better.

I won’t go into all the details of how he made life hell for the nurses. He even tried to *escape* one day and ended up at the foot of his bed, in the wrong direction and had to just lay there until rescued by the nurses. Everyone knew who HE was, trust me on that. He was notorious.

I had a 12 year old granddaughter at home at the time. She had been with him when he had the stroke and was totally traumatized by the experience. We had custody of her so it wasn’t like I could send her home to her mother and only worry about the Beast. He wanted me there with him 24/7 and I kept telling him it was impossible. First of all, the hospital wouldn’t allow it. Second of all, I still had a large home and child to try to give a certain semblance of a normal life. As it was, thank goodness for our neighbors. They either had Krys at their homes until I got home to make dinner or would look in on her for me.

I learned how to do my grocery shopping on the fly and did laundry late at night. At the time, I was used to being up late because that was when my family and I would talk and play games together on the computer. My other kids could *talk* to me online, too, since they all had jobs and couldn’t be there all the time. One son and his family lived in Tennessee and had taken a hair-raising trip as soon as he heard about his father and come down to check out his condition first-hand.

The Beast ended up in the hospital for a week. They wanted to put him directly into rehab but he fought it and refused. HE felt he could do rehab with home workers. In truth, he wanted OUT of the hospital so he could have a cigarette. What he didn’t realize was that I had some friends come over and sanatize all the ductwork in the house and had forbidden any smoking in the house. I made everyone go out on the back patio or the pool patio to smoke so there wouldn’t be that *fragrance* to tempt him when he came home. I had also stopped smoking for HIS sake.

I was furious when he came home via his cousin (he told me not to come get him, that his cousin was going to bring him home and….duh….I can be so dumb at times for not thinking it through) and all I could smell on him was smoke.
I had a hissy fit and told him to go ahead and kill himself. He obviously didn’t care about himself so why should I?

His little sojourn at home lasted all of three days. I had to call the doctor and make arrangements for inpatient rehab for him because we were just not set up for someone who was totally paralyzed on one side and he hated my having to take him to the bathroom and even wipe his butt. He didn’t want to work with the health care workers so I put my foot down and he actually agreed he needed to go in. It took another day but I packed up his clothes for a week or so (I could wash his clothes as needed) and the ambulance came to transport him. He was in rehab for almost three months. After that, he did outpatient so I just had to drive him there and pick him up later in the day.

His sense of humor, always a bit weird, got him through the next nine months of recovery. Even the other patients started to look forward to his entering the common room where the patients gathered to do some of the different exercises required. He singlehandedly kept their spirits up and caused a lot of laughter which was good to hear. His attitude gentled due to realizing he was not as bad off as many of them. It was a humbling experience for me but I can’t really say for him. Let’s just say that he was not quite as *beastly* to me and mine as he had been at the beginning of all this.

I found out I was a natural caregiver but it was NOT easy. If it hadn’t been for some online help sites and talking with others going through the same thing, I am not sure I could have kept my sanity. Nothing was easy. I did shopping late at night (Thank God for Walmart and their 24 hour stores) and did clothes washing, folding and hanging up. I hired a cleaning lady to help me out with the huge house we owned at the time. I only had her come every other week but she did an amazing job. She knew us all and I am sure didn’t charge me what she could have.

We were lucky. The Beast and I owned our own company and we had good technical and office help. The company kept running so we had weekly paychecks to tide us over. I spoke with many people online that were in dire straits because they didn’t have the savings or insurance in place that we did. I thanked God daily for such large favors as our having made the right decisions in some areas.

It’s five years later and the Beast has some residual effects of his first stroke (Oh, he also had a milder one six months later but it only set him back about a month’s worth of progress). His gait is strange and his left foot keeps wanting to turn in. His muscles play hell with him and tighten up after only 15 minutes or so of activity.

He’s still stubborn and will go lay down for 10 minutes or so and then he’s up and around again. I think he gets scared that if he stays down too long, he might never get up again. It’s humbling for him, I think.

Anyway, my one trepidation about our move to Alabama is that we will be together pretty much 24/7 again. I have lots of hobbies and things I can do besides clean house. This house is smaller than our Florida home and takes less time to totally clean up. HE, however, has no real hobby other than his fruit trees and that’s not going to do me any good come next winter. He can’t seem to start any project that doesn’t involve interrupting me at whatever *I* am doing to *give him a hand for a minute*. **Sigh**

Pray for me.

Moving is becoming a reality

Well, today is the day we sign the agreement to sell our house here in Port Charlotte, Florida.  This was supposed to be our last stop in life when we had this house built but we didn’t take into account *The Beast* (my husband).  He has always been hyperactive and he was running out of space on our lot to plant his trees and stuff.  I should have known he would never be able to relax and just let things grow.  *sigh*

First he started really complaining about the heat and humidity here during the summer.  Well, duh, it’s Florida for cryin’ out loud.  Then he started taking trips to places like Northern Georgia, Tennessee and even Kentucky to look at *cabins* and stuff for a *summer place* for him to stay where he could keep busy planting trees you can’t grow in Florida.  Surprize!  Surprize!

It was a nice respite for me to have him gone from under my feet.  He couldn’t seem to start any project that didn’t somehow involve MY help somewhere along the line.  He had a buddy that lives in Brunswick, Georgia that would meet up with him along the way and the two of them *batched* it in our travel trailer while looking at various homes, trailers, lots and a couple of real cabins.  Amazing.  Of course, nothing suited.  Now his buddy is married to a successful psychiatrist and lives in a house that is probably worth a million dollars.  It’s an incredible house on the water and he has this dock that he built that makes your mouth drop.  He’s a perfectionist by nature and people who build docks for a living are in shock when they see what he did with almost no help.  I kid you not, he missed his calling.

Anyway, his wife is within a couple years of retiring, so he was looking for something smaller for them that didn’t require so much maintenance so they could do some traveling when she retires.  He also wanted it to be within a day or so travel so they could find it now and still use it for those three and four day weekends that come along. 

When The Beast found the house in Albertville, Alabama (it’s up in the NE corner of Alabama near another town called Guntersville), I was shocked.  First of all, it’s ALABAMA, for cryin’ out loud.  Not exactly known as a vacation site that I was aware of at all.  This town is near a huge lake called…..drumroll…..Lake Guntersville!  Are you surprised?  He was all set to just up and buy it and I had a hissy fit.  I said, “not until I get up there and see it, you don’t.”

He tried to assure me that the house was brand new and that he and his buddy even crawled underneath it to inspect how well it was built.  Now I trust his buddy to be critical and know what he’s looking at but I know The Beast.  Once he decides he wants something, it takes an elephant gun to stop his charge.  I almost flew up the road to get there before the scheduled closing on the house.

Imagine my shock when I found this perfectly nice, comfortable 3 bedroom, 2 bath house with two car garage on almost a half-acre of land.  It has a small front porch area and a nice size deck out back and the back of the lot is all trees.  I was shocked and amazed.  I really couldn’t find anything wrong with it, even the price ($89,000).  So I was there for the closing, signed the papers, wrote the check and we then owned two homes. 

What is truly amazing is that, here we were, just two *kids* that grew up in the city of Chicago, blue-collar background and we owned (no mortgage) TWO homes!  Some things we just did right as we went along.

The idea of actually selling the house in Florida came slowly because of the high cost of insurance, taxes, etc. versus what it cost us for the Alabama house.  No comparison.  We decided that we could tough out the winters there because they have virtually no snow (four days is normal and it doesn’t stick on the ground).  So…………here we are.

We have slowly brought up a lot of stuff to the Alabama house.  The living room set, the guest bedroom set (which we use when we go up there but this time OUR set comes with us), the tv in the living room, you know…the essentials.

Now it’s time to pay the piper.  This is the next-to-last load we will bring up.  The Beast is returning in two weeks with his brother to get whatever we can’t manage to squeeze into the trailer this time and because his brother wants our leather living room set that is too big for the Alabama house.  He could use it and I am glad it’s getting a good home.  All the other stuff I had to get rid of I freecycled (a great organization.  Check into it where you live).  I’m sure I’ll be joining the one closest to Albertville once we get there. 

We will be leaving here on the 24th of April.  I won’t be returning until we accept an offer on this house and we have to return for the closing.  Wish us luck.