Ridgetop - our place and how we muddle along

[SageHill]

Safe travels. And you do know we're in for rain, a lot - Monday-Thursday --- be extra careful.

 

[RR Homestead]

Safe travels!

 

[drstratton]

Have a safe trip, there and back!

 

[Baymule]

Go take care of business and come back!

 

[Ridgetop]

It's been 2 1/2 weeks since I posted so a lot has happened. The weather started out raining but cleared up and has been nice. (It's California so good weather is expected here LOL.)

We left on Monday 5 am February 16 (?) and arrived Tuesday at 9pm. Exhausted but ready to work on house. Big shock - they were hardly packed! The baby had a runny nose. We slept in the double bed in DS1's old room, he had the twin bed in the old office. Wednesday I walked around to see what was still to be moved. LOTS! The condition of the house was very upsetting too. Anyway, we went to Costco and Smart and Final for premade food since I would not be doing a lot of cooking. I caught the baby's cold.

Thursday I started packing everything I could. On Saturday DS2 nd DDIL2 moved to the new house to sleep. We moved into the master bedroom and our larger bed. DS1 moved back into his room. I moved on from emptying cupboards to picking up and packing the kids' toys. Boxes and boxes of them. DH started collecting the kids' ride on toys. They filled the pickup. DS2 said he did not know they had so much stuff. First he thought he would just chuck it all but I convinced him to hold a giant garage sale. The kids' stuff was all really good and fairly new so might as make some $$. After a week I had made a large dent in the packing. DDIL2' sisters were helping her at the new house unpacking as fast as they could.


Tuesday (a week after we arrived) Barbie - our ranchsitter - called. She had fallen and broken her kneecap! The ER doctor though it was a hairline fracture and she was in a brace and on crutches. (She will see the ortho on Thursday.) I called around to see if I could get her some help to feed. Nada. I told her that the horses could drink from the pond. It wasn't hot so the water wasn't going down in the pastures. Everyone had fresh round bales in the pastures. DH began making plans to fly back. The next day she said that her friends had rallied around and were helping her feed. She also said that her knee was not as painful in the brace and she was able to get around ok. No need to rush back so DH was able to relax and continue working.
Wednesday I started packing DS2 and DDIL2's old bedroom. After theymoved into our room I think they just piled extra stuff in there. DS2 had stacks of business papers all around on the floor. He also had tons of tchachkes. I started wrapping those up and packing them. He also has a knife collection. Some are antiques, some are collectors pieces, some are fancy ones, but he had them stacked EVERYWHERE. Finally got most of that cleaned out and packed - 2 days for that. Every day DS1 and DH loaded all the boxes I was packing in the truck and when DS2 came home from work they took them over to the new house. Tuesday (one week after we arrived) DDIL2 unloaded the 6' freezer that they are taking into several coolers and the guys took it to the new house. They had to run an extension cord to plug it in since the space they needed to put it was full of boxes. Once it was out of the laundry room, I washed the floor and walls ready to paint. The ceiling in the laundry room needs repair since it was damaged by rain before we had the roof replaced a couple years ago. DS2 was supposed to fix it but never got the chance. DS1 and I will take care of it now. They also got the large shelving unit out of the laundry and took it over to the new house.

On Wednesday I had a mammogram and bone scan. DS2 got the snip. Both of them are 40 and they are finished having kids. Their boys are 10 months, 3 years, and 5 this month. Since he was going to have to take off until Monday we decided to go to Palm Springs to shop for furniture. The older boys had caught the baby's cold. Maybe they already had it from preschool.

Friday 8 am found us on the road to PS. The older boys stayed with her sister. DS1 took care of the dog and continued sorting stuff. We only took the truck. I couldn't bring any furniture to PS without having pix for the vendors. Thank heavens I called before we loaded it all up and dragged it down there! I will have to take it another week. Luckily I found out which consignments stores would be best for my stuff. There was no way we could have driven round PS with our 24' gooseneck! On the way I asked if he had measured his rooms. He said no. I said I brought a tape measure but he should have measured he rooms. We arrived around 10:30 and hit several stores before having dinner and checking into our motel. The Best Western charged us almost $300 for one night! DS2 decided that we should cancel our reservation for Saturday night and try to leave on Saturday. I told him he probably wouldn't be able to get finished in time but he insisted. The kids found a lot of the furniture they needed. Saturday DS2 and DH rented a U-Haul trailer. We went to Eisenhowers and they found more good furniture and started loading. The stores are only open from10-4! At 2:00 DH started angrily complaining that I should hurry up because we weren't going to get to all the stores by 4 pm. What?! I was sitting waiting while DS2 and DDIL2 were finishing shopping and paying. DH was shouting at me that I needed to hurry! I asked what he expected me to do - the store was loading the trailer and I couldn't do anything to help them hurry up. I said we would have to spend another night. I had already tried to get another reservation at BW but they were full (winter is the SEASON in PS). I called Motel 6 and was able to get 2 rooms. They cost less than half what Best Western charged! No free breakfast but we ate at Dennys - better breakfast and still saved $$. Once I had a reservation for the night DH calmed down. They finished loading the traier at the second location and realized that we needed a padlock on the trailer. Now we had to find a hardware store in a tourist town. Got the padlock, went to dinner and then the motel. Next day we picked up the rest of our stuff, and hit a couple more stores. Had to unload some of the stuff to reload and fit everything in. DS2 relaied he now needed another set of tie downs to keep the furniture secure and prevent it moving around an getting damaged. No point going to the first hardware store - it was 15 miles behind us, found a Lowes. He also needed more moving pads so back to the U-Haul for another 12 pads. Finally got everything loaded, safely packed, and headed for home. Baby Alexander was cross and DDIL2 had caught the chidren's cold.

We arrived at the new house round 7:30 pm. DS1 drove over with the dog and met us to unload. DS2 wasn't supposed to lift anything heavy so w all had to pitch in to help unload. He still carried too much. Once we had the furniture in the house DS2 realized he bought too much furniture. DH said he shoud have measured his rooms before we went. Now he has a problem. He may have to sell some of his PS bargains at his garage sale. I told him to call it a moving sale instead of a garage sale.

Anyway, I am going to have to paint the entire house. I have filled a million nail holes, removed anchors and filled those holes, and remudded the patches where the old HVAC vents were. DS1 had patched them but they needed another couple layers of mud. DH kept sanding the and I kept filling them until they were even. Today we went to Lowes and bought paint for the rooms. I also priced closet doors for the 2 bedrooms that don't have any, priced granite in case we have to put in new counters (the old tile ones are horrible), and checked that I can still get the same self stick tile to go in the laundry room. I can and it is still $1/sf. Not looking forward to doing all this work but I need to get top dollar for the house.

DH and DS1 will take a load back to Texas, picking up alfalfa in Arizona on the way. DH will stay in Texas to take care of everything and DS1 will come back with the trailer.

More about what has been going on later.

 

[drstratton]

It's been 2 1/2 weeks since I posted so a lot has happened. The weather started out raining but cleared up and has been nice. (It's California so good weather is expected here LOL.)

We left on Monday 5 am February 16 (?) and arrived Tuesday at 9pm. Exhausted but ready to work on house. Big shock - they were hardly packed! The baby had a runny nose. We slept in the double bed in DS1's old room, he had the twin bed in the old office. Wednesday I walked around to see what was still to be moved. LOTS! The condition of the house was very upsetting too. Anyway, we went to Costco and Smart and Final for premade food since I would not be doing a lot of cooking. I caught the baby's cold.

Thursday I started packing everything I could. On Saturday DS2 nd DDIL2 moved to the new house to sleep. We moved into the master bedroom and our larger bed. DS1 moved back into his room. I moved on from emptying cupboards to picking up and packing the kids' toys. Boxes and boxes of them. DH started collecting the kids' ride on toys. They filled the pickup. DS2 said he did not know they had so much stuff. First he thought he would just chuck it all but I convinced him to hold a giant garage sale. The kids' stuff was all really good and fairly new so might as make some $$. After a week I had made a large dent in the packing. DDIL2' sisters were helping her at the new house unpacking as fast as they could.


Tuesday (a week after we arrived) Barbie - our ranchsitter - called. She had fallen and broken her kneecap! The ER doctor though it was a hairline fracture and she was in a brace and on crutches. (She will see the ortho on Thursday.) I called around to see if I could get her some help to feed. Nada. I told her that the horses could drink from the pond. It wasn't hot so the water wasn't going down in the pastures. Everyone had fresh round bales in the pastures. DH began making plans to fly back. The next day she said that her friends had rallied around and were helping her feed. She also said that her knee was not as painful in the brace and she was able to get around ok. No need to rush back so DH was able to relax and continue working.
Wednesday I started packing DS2 and DDIL2's old bedroom. After theymoved into our room I think they just piled extra stuff in there. DS2 had stacks of business papers all around on the floor. He also had tons of tchachkes. I started wrapping those up and packing them. He also has a knife collection. Some are antiques, some are collectors pieces, some are fancy ones, but he had them stacked EVERYWHERE. Finally got most of that cleaned out and packed - 2 days for that. Every day DS1 and DH loaded all the boxes I was packing in the truck and when DS2 came home from work they took them over to the new house. Tuesday (one week after we arrived) DDIL2 unloaded the 6' freezer that they are taking into several coolers and the guys took it to the new house. They had to run an extension cord to plug it in since the space they needed to put it was full of boxes. Once it was out of the laundry room, I washed the floor and walls ready to paint. The ceiling in the laundry room needs repair since it was damaged by rain before we had the roof replaced a couple years ago. DS2 was supposed to fix it but never got the chance. DS1 and I will take care of it now. They also got the large shelving unit out of the laundry and took it over to the new house.

On Wednesday I had a mammogram and bone scan. DS2 got the snip. Both of them are 40 and they are finished having kids. Their boys are 10 months, 3 years, and 5 this month. Since he was going to have to take off until Monday we decided to go to Palm Springs to shop for furniture. The older boys had caught the baby's cold. Maybe they already had it from preschool.

Friday 8 am found us on the road to PS. The older boys stayed with her sister. DS1 took care of the dog and continued sorting stuff. We only took the truck. I couldn't bring any furniture to PS without having pix for the vendors. Thank heavens I called before we loaded it all up and dragged it down there! I will have to take it another week. Luckily I found out which consignments stores would be best for my stuff. There was no way we could have driven round PS with our 24' gooseneck! On the way I asked if he had measured his rooms. He said no. I said I brought a tape measure but he should have measured he rooms. We arrived around 10:30 and hit several stores before having dinner and checking into our motel. The Best Western charged us almost $300 for one night! DS2 decided that we should cancel our reservation for Saturday night and try to leave on Saturday. I told him he probably wouldn't be able to get finished in time but he insisted. The kids found a lot of the furniture they needed. Saturday DS2 and DH rented a U-Haul trailer. We went to Eisenhowers and they found more good furniture and started loading. The stores are only open from10-4! At 2:00 DH started angrily complaining that I should hurry up because we weren't going to get to all the stores by 4 pm. What?! I was sitting waiting while DS2 and DDIL2 were finishing shopping and paying. DH was shouting at me that I needed to hurry! I asked what he expected me to do - the store was loading the trailer and I couldn't do anything to help them hurry up. I said we would have to spend another night. I had already tried to get another reservation at BW but they were full (winter is the SEASON in PS). I called Motel 6 and was able to get 2 rooms. They cost less than half what Best Western charged! No free breakfast but we ate at Dennys - better breakfast and still saved $$. Once I had a reservation for the night DH calmed down. They finished loading the traier at the second location and realized that we needed a padlock on the trailer. Now we had to find a hardware store in a tourist town. Got the padlock, went to dinner and then the motel. Next day we picked up the rest of our stuff, and hit a couple more stores. Had to unload some of the stuff to reload and fit everything in. DS2 relaied he now needed another set of tie downs to keep the furniture secure and prevent it moving around an getting damaged. No point going to the first hardware store - it was 15 miles behind us, found a Lowes. He also needed more moving pads so back to the U-Haul for another 12 pads. Finally got everything loaded, safely packed, and headed for home. Baby Alexander was cross and DDIL2 had caught the chidren's cold.

We arrived at the new house round 7:30 pm. DS1 drove over with the dog and met us to unload. DS2 wasn't supposed to lift anything heavy so w all had to pitch in to help unload. He still carried too much. Once we had the furniture in the house DS2 realized he bought too much furniture. DH said he shoud have measured his rooms before we went. Now he has a problem. He may have to sell some of his PS bargains at his garage sale. I told him to call it a moving sale instead of a garage sale.

Anyway, I am going to have to paint the entire house. I have filled a million nail holes, removed anchors and filled those holes, and remudded the patches where the old HVAC vents were. DS1 had patched them but they needed another couple layers of mud. DH kept sanding the and I kept filling them until they were even. Today we went to Lowes and bought paint for the rooms. I also priced closet doors for the 2 bedrooms that don't have any, priced granite in case we have to put in new counters (the old tile ones are horrible), and checked that I can still get the same self stick tile to go in the laundry room. I can and it is still $1/sf. Not looking forward to doing all this work but I need to get top dollar for the house.

DH and DS1 will take a load back to Texas, picking up alfalfa in Arizona on the way. DH will stay in Texas to take care of everything and DS1 will come back with the trailer.

More about what has been going on later.

Oh my goodness. That's about how it always goes when we help our youngest son and dil.

Hope you are over your cold soon and it doesn't get too much crazier.

 

[Baymule]

They may both be 40, but they are still babies themselves. They had your big spacious house, now they have to cram all their stuff in a smaller house AND take care of it. Time for son to get rid of some of his collections. he is a grown man now with a wife, children, a mortgage and responsibilities. And too many toys! Children that have too much stuff usually value none of it or become obsessed with stuff. I'm guessing her family pounds the kids with toys.

Get the house fixed back up and get back to TEXAS!

 

[SageHill]

Woah -- geeze sounds like they waited for you to do all the work/packing for them. You'll be so happy when you're heading back to TX

 

[murphysranch]

I would have spent time being disappointed in my child if I had walked into that mess. But then we mom's pull up our boots and take charge.

 

[Ridgetop]

I'm guessing her family pounds the kids with toys.

Yes, but in her family's defense, she is one of 6 girls and 1 boy. She is the only one married and having babies. Two of her sisters are in partnerships with other women and her brother is also gay. The chances of more grandchildren are slim. Plus, with 6 daughters and only one son, her dad is thrilled to finally have boys in the family! Her siblings are thrlled that they don't have to produe any and can spoil hers. LOL It will make sending gifts much easier to only have to gift a check. On the other hand, they spoiled themselves living with us in that we paid the bills until we moved to Texas. DS2 paid a partial "rent" payment. They had lots of money for junk and lots of time for video games. This has been a culture shock larger than the army was for our son. At any rate Barbie is doing ok with her knee brace. Payton came over and replaced all the bales a couple days ago. The next day P29 lambed a mismarked ewe lamb. Several days later the last one lambed ewe lamb as well. Barbie showed ther pix to the brdge grou and othey named the cute mismarked lamb Barbielou. Another gal claimed the other one ad wants it to be Jan. Fine with me since anytime they want to know where "So and So" is I just point to the pasture. They are all white so . . . .

I painted half of the laundry room yesterday. I can only paint half the ceiling since the other half has damage needing repair. I painted the large wall where the 6' freezer and the 4' shelf had been. DS1 will move the 4' freezer onto that wall so we can check out the hot water heater. t does not seem to be giving us much hot water. We are going to attach a hose and drain it, then refill it and check it before replacing it. Hot water heaters are $800-1000 now. The state is also requiring a lot of extra stuff which we will ignore If it comes up in the inspection we will offer to leave some $$. We are also going with smaller HWH with lesser warranty. That may lower the cost somewhat The first bid to install it was $2000. If we supply the HWH it dropps a bit but they are also trying to charge for all new piping etc. BTW the cot of the paint here in California s about $10/gallon more than in Texas! If I had known I would have bought all the paint there and brought it with us. If I need more paint, I will have DS1 pick it up in SS while he is back there. I am also using flat paint instead of the eggshell I normally use. With the amount of wall patching I have to do flat will not show up the patches as much as eggshell or satin. It is also cheaper by several dollars a gallon. I also saved by buying the 5 gallon size since I will need at least 5 gallons for the living room/dining room and family room. I may need more since the LR/DR is 18'x30' and the family room is 18'x20'. I did find a gallon of "mismixed" paint in cream color for $15 which I grabbed. It will do the small bedroom. There was half a gallon of the nursery paint here which I have used to cover the patches. It's not enough to do the entire room it looks like the light blue paint has faded in there. I put it on the patched areas and am waiting to see if it blends in or shows up. I was hoping not to have to paint the entire room but it may have been a vain hope. On the other hand, the patches in the white ceilings that I painted with the flat Swiss Coffee white paint are looking good and I probably won't have to paint those ceilings. The only ceiling I think I will have to paint is the dining room. It is a standard ceiling height while the main living room has a beamed ceiling.

At any rate, all the patching is done in 2 bedrooms and the hall. I'm moving along starting on the painting and repairs. Most of their packing is finished and just has to be moved to their home. I do keep opening closets and doors and finding more of their stuff.

DH and DS1 emptied the barn lofts, the milkshed, and are working on the barn contents. Not much left there. The big job will be the tool shed since DS2 and DDIL2 have it packed full. We will go down and see what all is ours or what we want but I have to be careful since I accidentally took some of DS2's tools to TX and we had to bring them back. LOL DDIL2 also has about 20 boxes of her stuff she used when she was working in a preschool all stored there and in their small sheds. I think it is time she donated them to the preschool or if she plans to go back to work part time at the preschool when Alexander is 2, they may need to rent a storage unit. Unless that new house has magic walls all their stuff will not fit.

Back to work - got to see if the paint patches are dry.