Updates

Less than two weeks till our commitment ceremony/wedding. No, we're not ready.

The ceremony is finished, text-wise. Legal documents in process. RSVPs coming in. Found a candelabra to rent.

The house is complete chaos. The flooring project is going very slowly. The cement compound needs sanding after it dries. The dust hangs in the air for hours, and nobody, and no critter, should be in the main part of the house during that time. While hanging around, it invades every space and settles. Nobody but me seems to see any kind of a need to clean up, and I'm usually too tired to do much of anything but the most necessary of surfaces. I can just imagine the yelling when fine duds touch anything on the 14th as people get ready to leave and collect that lovely dust. Meanwhile I have no usable kitchen - still - no icemaker, no counters except one, no stove, and a sink full of dirty dishes collecting crap. The fridge is plugged in and sitting in the living room, a solitary piece of normal. Kind of. My chair and Steve's are backed against the back wall on the bit of "done" floor, no room to stretch back and put one's feet up at the end of the day. Wedding stuff has to be stored elsewhere.

The headpiece is finally finished, and fortunately sitting in a shoebox. The tunic is done except for sewing on buttons, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to sit on my bed behind a closed door to work on it - not ideal. Same for any other chores, like wrapping the gifts for the wedding party. I have no idea where I'm going to put the ironing board for touch-ups.

The offer on the Sun City house was accepted by the buyer, passed through the title company OK, and now we're waiting on the bank. I've planned on which of the IRAs will be tapped to pay for it, and may need to tap one more little one for all those extra expenses, but it'll get done. My credit union tells me I don't qualify for a loan because they think I can't pay for two homes to keep them running. Well, that's where the other IRAs come in, until the markets recover, I retire, and sell this house. Then that becomes the retirement income. And they can't count the contributions the rest of the family make towards living expenses because you can't count that stuff on your taxes so it's not income. Somebody paying phone/satelite/internet is income? Absurd! They're locked in in their thinking.

I'm not. And a solar installation down there next year will offset much of the utilities there.

And back to speaking of retreating into my bedroom, there's a new something for the new house sitting in there. I had picked up a couple of Persian rugs at the auction house previously, at danged good prices, and they are there, rolled up next to the bed away from the traffic pattern. There is now a third, picked up Saturday. This one is mostly blue, and absolutely exquisite, and will go in the living room end of the living/dining room. So the living room theme will be blue, the Arizona room/1st lanai will be green/rose, and the screened lanai will have the inexpensive rose/tan one. (Or maybe it'll go in a bedroom instead. Still thinking about that one. It's smallest.)

Assuming the bank OKs the short sale, of course.

Meanwhile, there's still much to do, including getting dressed for work.