WOW!! Lots of work going on in the house. The whole porch was full of stuff from Home Depot, and is almost empty now. New doors are up, new sinks are in, new countertops are finished. The carpets are being cleaned today because the walls are all painted. Just the cleaning up needs to be finished. Mostly everything is packed - I still need to pack part of my house but it is coming together.
My friend bought a place a little further out in New Jersey, and that's where we are going to put all of my things. It's a good temporary stopping place until, and if, we decide to move to Florida full time. I don't think either of us really wants to do that. We want to be able to be in New York part-time and this gives us the chance to do it. It's just a one-bedroom, but I think everything will fit. Both it, and my house, will close on the 17th of August. I won't be moving until the middle of September, so it is close.
But - better news - we are going to Italy starting August 25, coming back September 6. That will be the trip of a lifetime for me. I've never been there and it's on my Bucket List (the list of things you want to do before you die). Rome, Florence, and Venice. I am so very excited. I will leave a post of pictures after I get back and you will be able to see what I saw.
Meanwhile, I have a few boxes still to pack.....
Love and smoochy kisses,
Grandma Nici
Friday, July 29, 2016
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLOR
I was there when you were born my darling boy. I watched you take your first breath and spent the next four years watching you grow up. I have so many pictures, I will give them to you.
I love you my beautiful child
Grandma Nici
I love you my beautiful child
Grandma Nici
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
HOUSE!!
I did it! I called the real estate lady in mid-May, she decided how much the house should sell for and she took lots of pictures. The house sold in 24 hours. Of course there is a lot of negotiation going on so I probably won't have to move until August, with lots of contracts and re-writing of contracts and figuring out how the new owners will pay for it and everything. But it is moving forward nicely.
Unfortunately I have to do a LOT to the house to get it ready. I had agreed to make certain improvements based on how bad the tenants were leaving it. I had to replace the first floor kitchen sink and countertops, the bathroom sink, door, and medicine cabinet, add glass shower doors, paint the entire first and second floor, add a door to Taylor's old bedroom, remove your Daddy's sound booth in the blue bedroom, and clean everything thoroughly. This will take 6-8 weeks to finish.
Then I have to decide where I'm going to move my stuff. That's the hard part. The house sold months faster than I thought it would. I thought it wouldn't sell until fall so I would have time to find another place. Now I don't, and I don't know where to move. That will have to work itself out pretty quickly I think. Of course, I can always put everything in storage with a moving company until I decide. That's the quick and dirty option.
The buyers are very nice, a young couple who will eventually start a family. That means Taylor's bedroom will have a baby in it again. I will miss the house terribly - it has all my memories of the two of you.
Love and smoochy kisses
Grandma Nici
Unfortunately I have to do a LOT to the house to get it ready. I had agreed to make certain improvements based on how bad the tenants were leaving it. I had to replace the first floor kitchen sink and countertops, the bathroom sink, door, and medicine cabinet, add glass shower doors, paint the entire first and second floor, add a door to Taylor's old bedroom, remove your Daddy's sound booth in the blue bedroom, and clean everything thoroughly. This will take 6-8 weeks to finish.
Then I have to decide where I'm going to move my stuff. That's the hard part. The house sold months faster than I thought it would. I thought it wouldn't sell until fall so I would have time to find another place. Now I don't, and I don't know where to move. That will have to work itself out pretty quickly I think. Of course, I can always put everything in storage with a moving company until I decide. That's the quick and dirty option.
The buyers are very nice, a young couple who will eventually start a family. That means Taylor's bedroom will have a baby in it again. I will miss the house terribly - it has all my memories of the two of you.
Love and smoochy kisses
Grandma Nici
Friday, April 15, 2016
Tax Day and Lots of News
It's Tax Day in the US. We pay our income taxes and, hopefully, get a refund. Or at least don't have to pay very much. My house interest helps a lot, so I rarely have to pay anything but that's going to change I think.
My tenants are moving out in June. They are building a house so have given me a lot of notice. Hmmm, I wonder if my house can sell for more than I paid for it. If not, I can't sell it because the bank will want all the money they loaned me to buy and I can't pay it all. We will have to get an appraisal - that's where someone tells you how much your house is worth and that let's you set a selling price. I'm going to call the same lady that sold it to me. She will know what to do. Meanwhile - it's time to CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN and sell as much as possible. What fun!
Therapy is helping my foot. Hurrah! It's a slow process, but it is working and it feels so much better already.
Love you my dear one!
Grandma Nici
My tenants are moving out in June. They are building a house so have given me a lot of notice. Hmmm, I wonder if my house can sell for more than I paid for it. If not, I can't sell it because the bank will want all the money they loaned me to buy and I can't pay it all. We will have to get an appraisal - that's where someone tells you how much your house is worth and that let's you set a selling price. I'm going to call the same lady that sold it to me. She will know what to do. Meanwhile - it's time to CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN and sell as much as possible. What fun!
Therapy is helping my foot. Hurrah! It's a slow process, but it is working and it feels so much better already.
Love you my dear one!
Grandma Nici
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Happy Birthday Emmerson and Grandma
Happy Happy Birthday Birthday to Emmerson on the 13th and to Grandma on the 14th. We are just one day apart so we can celebrate together. Hurrah!!! Did you have cake and candles? I did!
Another trip to Florida this month just to rest and relax - I love it.
I visited with a dear friend of mine who was in town on his way to China. We had dinner together and it was just wonderful. It's so nice to see friends you have known for years and years and years. Why, we first met in 1991!! Another piece of good advice, keep your friends close. Don't let time or distance get in the way. If you are good friends you should talk from time to time. And see one another from time to time as well. It will be as if you had just seen one another yesterday, even if it's been years.
I've decided to go back and start therapy on my foot again. It just hasn't gotten any better and summer is coming which means I want to USE it properly. We are talking about a big trip at the end of summer so there will be a lot of walking which I couldn't do now.
Hope you are enjoying school, just a couple of more months until summer vacation.
Love and kisses
Grandma Nici
Another trip to Florida this month just to rest and relax - I love it.
I visited with a dear friend of mine who was in town on his way to China. We had dinner together and it was just wonderful. It's so nice to see friends you have known for years and years and years. Why, we first met in 1991!! Another piece of good advice, keep your friends close. Don't let time or distance get in the way. If you are good friends you should talk from time to time. And see one another from time to time as well. It will be as if you had just seen one another yesterday, even if it's been years.
I've decided to go back and start therapy on my foot again. It just hasn't gotten any better and summer is coming which means I want to USE it properly. We are talking about a big trip at the end of summer so there will be a lot of walking which I couldn't do now.
Hope you are enjoying school, just a couple of more months until summer vacation.
Love and kisses
Grandma Nici
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Happy Valentine's Day
Hope you had a lovely Valentine's Day and got mom something special. We went to a lovely hotel in Pennsylvania that is very romantic since Monday was a holiday - President's Day.
My friend is going back to San Diego late in the month and I wish I could go too. It's been chilly here this winter, although not a lot of snow, which is very good.
January really had a lot of snow late in the month, but it all melted in about 2 days. We had almost 25 inches fall at once, then POOF, gone. That happened a few years ago when you were living with me but it didn't go away. We had to shovel and shovel and shovel until there was no place else to put it.
I'm still cleaning out and selling. I think I have pretty much decided that when the tenants leave I'm going to sell, and I'm going to ask them to leave at the beginning of summer. Lots of decisions to make! The worst part is that you will never again know where I am. I hope I can leave enough breadcrumbs that you can find me. I won't change my phone number and will always keep my FaceBook available so you can contact me if you want to. I do love you so much.
Love and kisses
Grandma Nici
My friend is going back to San Diego late in the month and I wish I could go too. It's been chilly here this winter, although not a lot of snow, which is very good.
January really had a lot of snow late in the month, but it all melted in about 2 days. We had almost 25 inches fall at once, then POOF, gone. That happened a few years ago when you were living with me but it didn't go away. We had to shovel and shovel and shovel until there was no place else to put it.
I'm still cleaning out and selling. I think I have pretty much decided that when the tenants leave I'm going to sell, and I'm going to ask them to leave at the beginning of summer. Lots of decisions to make! The worst part is that you will never again know where I am. I hope I can leave enough breadcrumbs that you can find me. I won't change my phone number and will always keep my FaceBook available so you can contact me if you want to. I do love you so much.
Love and kisses
Grandma Nici
Monday, January 11, 2016
A New Year
Here we are starting a new year - 2016 - and what a good one it is going to be.
December saw me visiting my dear friend in Washington DC and I'm glad I did. She is very energizing and reminds me I don't have one foot in the grave. Then there was Christmas with the family, once again missing you both being there very much. They we went back to Florida for the New Year which was really nice because we missing some of the cold. Lastly - I HAVE A NEW JOB.
Getting that job was actually easier than I thought. I didn't lose any pay because my old job was paying me almost until the new one will start. I start the 19th, the day after Martin Luther King birthday so it works out wonderfully.
I am thinking really hard now about selling the house. While I wasn't working these last couple of months I spent a lot of time cleaning things out...selling...giving away....putting stuff on eBay...generally paring down what I own. After all - if I go to a 1-bedroom, how much will fit? If I am renting, do I need a shed full of tools and a Bar-B-Que grill? I've made some good money selling to neighbors and I'm going to keep going. The hardest part is always clothes. I have WAY TOO MANY. But I've always loved new clothes and now sure it is going to stop.
But I want you to think too. Start early putting away money for your future, for your education, for your wedding and children and retirement. It is never too early to learn how to save. Sometimes saving just means not spending. Do you need two of something, or will one do. Do you need a new something or can what you have take you through a little longer. Do you need the best or will second best do just as well. Don't settle - think big - then act on it only when you can.
Love and kisses my dear ones
Grandma Nici
December saw me visiting my dear friend in Washington DC and I'm glad I did. She is very energizing and reminds me I don't have one foot in the grave. Then there was Christmas with the family, once again missing you both being there very much. They we went back to Florida for the New Year which was really nice because we missing some of the cold. Lastly - I HAVE A NEW JOB.
Getting that job was actually easier than I thought. I didn't lose any pay because my old job was paying me almost until the new one will start. I start the 19th, the day after Martin Luther King birthday so it works out wonderfully.
I am thinking really hard now about selling the house. While I wasn't working these last couple of months I spent a lot of time cleaning things out...selling...giving away....putting stuff on eBay...generally paring down what I own. After all - if I go to a 1-bedroom, how much will fit? If I am renting, do I need a shed full of tools and a Bar-B-Que grill? I've made some good money selling to neighbors and I'm going to keep going. The hardest part is always clothes. I have WAY TOO MANY. But I've always loved new clothes and now sure it is going to stop.
But I want you to think too. Start early putting away money for your future, for your education, for your wedding and children and retirement. It is never too early to learn how to save. Sometimes saving just means not spending. Do you need two of something, or will one do. Do you need a new something or can what you have take you through a little longer. Do you need the best or will second best do just as well. Don't settle - think big - then act on it only when you can.
Love and kisses my dear ones
Grandma Nici
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)