Gotta Get With It

Looks like I forgot to get another post ready for this morning.

I really gotta get with it.

Not only that, my newsletter should go out tomorrow and I haven’t written one word of that yet.

I really gotta get with it.

Then yesterday I almost forgot a book event I was scheduled to attend in Springfield at 1:30. I remembered at 10:30. Talk about running around looking for my stuff!

I really gotta get with it.

But… Today it looks like we’ll get our backyard patio and driveway poured. I sure hope they don’t do the sidewalk, too, because then I don’t know how I’ll get out of the house (or how Hubby will get back in!). I’m sure the workers have figured that all out…maybe.

I say maybe because when they formed the driveway, they formed it incorrectly. We ordered a 20-foot wide driveway (from edge of house to edge of house). They formed for 16 feet (width of garage opening). We had the narrow opening at our old house and hated it, that’s why we paid for the wider opening. Thank goodness we (and the builder) noticed the mistake and it’s getting corrected. But…because the driveway comes real close to the water meter, the city has to inspect and approve the change. You’d think they’d have done this BEFORE building the house. The wider driveway was on the plans.

It’s been a busy week. A week I thought would be slow because I’d be at the old house getting the stuff out of there. Instead it was one appointment/event/thing after another. I was able to go over there twice. TWICE! That certainly isn’t getting the stuff cleared out of there.

We really gotta get with it!

So… What have you been trying to get accomplished but other stuff keeps getting in the way? Or maybe you WANT the other stuff to get in the way. Sometimes I think that’s how Hubby and I feel. It’s too much work going through the crap at the old house!

Happy Friday!

Stacy

Wednesday Reads and Still Waiting on Concrete

We’ve owned (via mortgage) the new house for four weeks now. We’re still waiting on our driveway and patio (probably a good thing the mortgage held back some of the payment to Ryan Homes) to be poured. Not that it’s been Ryan's fault. Oh no. That fault belongs to Mother Nature.

She likes to rain a lot this year.

Even now as I get ready to post this (which I forgot to do last night because I was at a Dragons game, who won in the 10th, by the way), a little rain cloud just let loose. Didn’t last long, but I’m sure more will follow.

At least we know we’re next. We were told they would form the driveway and such this week. Hasn’t happened yet, but I’m sure on that next clear day, workers will be in our yard getting it ready for concrete.

And then we hope no rain hits for a few days so it’ll get poured!

Here’s what I finished reading this week:

Book #21

Dates read: June 12-23
Title: The Emerald Lily
Year of publication: 2018
Author: Juliette Cross
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series: Vampire Blood #4
# of Pages: 275
Paper or plastic: Nook e-book
How obtained: Purchased
Blurb from Goodreads: When Princess Vilhelmina Dragomir is awakened from her hellish sleep with a blood kiss from a handsome stranger, she learns that much has changed while she’s been away. The armies of the Black Lily and the vampire Crown have amassed and are on the brink of war.
    No romantic entanglements, no family. Mikhail Romanov, Captain of the Bloodguard, took a vow when he joined the Bloodguard. But he never planned for the gut-punching attraction he would feel for the untouchable princess. He must keep his focus, though. In order to avenge his family, it’s essential he help Mina claim her crown and keep his damn hands off of her.
    But Mina sets her heart on the elusive captain, and keeping his focus on the great battle ahead becomes harder and harder. While they're making plans, the evil King Dominik has been making some of his own. This time, he will show no mercy to the Princess…
My thoughts: Whoo hoo! Quite the ending to this series. I noticed (probably by the third book because I’m slow and because of the heroine’s name: Brennalyn SNOW), that each book features a different fairy tale. #1 is Cinderella, #2 is Red Riding Hood, #3 is Snow White, and #4 is Sleeping Beauty. So if you’re into those kinds of stories with a bunch of sexy vampires, then this series is for you! I certainly enjoyed them all.

So… Has Mother Nature messed with any of your plans lately? At least the rain stopped about an hour before last night’s Dragons game, so it was able to start on time. And it was nice to see the Dragons win, too (they haven’t been playing all that well lately).

Happy Reading!

Stacy

Seven Books

There’s this thing I’ve seen on Facebook where people list seven books they love for seven days. No explanations, just covers. Well, I don’t want to drag this out for seven days on the blog, so I thought I would just list the seven book covers. Seven books I loved. Seven books that have stayed with me (even with my bad memory!). And all but one I’ve read more than once. So here are my seven (in no particular order):

Had a fun day in Philadelphia on Sunday. Saw the Liberty Bell (and walked around Independence Hall), the LOVE Park (which was rather underwhelming), and the Rocky statue (as well as the steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art). I even got to finally visit Delaware (a state I’ve never been), just because I could. We had dinner at the Dead Presidents Pub in Wilmington. Good food.

Today we’ll be going through Valley Forge (because Hubby wants to see it) on our way home. Don’t know what there is to see there, but I sure hope it’s not a lengthy stop. We’ve got quite a drive today. Okay, so Daughter is driving. Still…

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Daughter's team didn't win any games on Saturday, but she had a good time and came away with more bruises.

So, have I hit any books you love? If you are so inclined, you can list your seven in the comments (w/o the covers, of course, unless you’ve figured out how to do that in the comments!).

Happy Monday!

Stacy

White Boards, A/C, and Still Moving

I need a white board near my calendar.

We’ve had one in the old house since we moved there (1997). Didn’t realize how much I depended on that board until we moved in the new house and it was…not there.

I wish I had been smart enough to order one BEFORE we moved (we really didn’t want the one from the old house—it has a hole for a wall phone, and we don’t have one of those here), but it is what it is. The local stores don’t have the one I prefer (1/2 white board, 1/2 cork board), or I’d just buy one here.

So, instead I wait for one to be shipped. And it should arrive today. Man, I can’t wait until that sucker is up on the wall. I really miss my white board.

What’s so special about this board, you ask? Well… it’s where I keep my to do list.

Oh, I’ve tried using paper, but I always seem to misplace that and it’s not big and bold for me to SEE all the time. And that’s the key. I have to SEE it constantly to remind me. Don’t know if it’s due to old age or what, but I don’t remember things as well as I used to. That’s if I remembered things well in the past. I don’t remember! Haha!

Looks like my ant problem has gone away. Yay! When the builder said the spray would work, he wasn’t kidding. Very happy about that.

Got the air conditioner replaced in the old house on Wednesday. Almost thought I would have to wait. Not ten minutes before the installers arrived, we lost power on our street. I heard a boom outside and then my fans died. That was the third time since we moved that that’s happened. And each time it’s been an animal. I think Dayton Power and Light needs to put up a better fence/cage around the transformer to keep the critters out. Power was eventually restored and the installers came back in the afternoon. It was a hot day in the old house, but I managed to get a lot more cleaned out (or stacked to give away).

It’s a good thing we aren’t in any hurry to move out. This weekend we’ll be in Philadelphia to watch Daughter play Footy (Eastern Regionals). But next week we’ll have to really start working on that basement (the main issue, really). Now that the A/C is working, it won’t be so bad going through the rest of the stuff. But when the air was broken? Ugh. I hated working in that house. The heat would drain me dry.

So… How do you remind yourself of what needs to be done for the day (e.g. a doctor appointment or meeting friends for lunch)? I can’t rely on my phone calendar. It only tells me when the event is to occur at the time of the event. And that’s if I even hear my phone chime the reminder. That just does NOT work for me.

Happy Friday!

Stacy

Ants? Really??

I knew to expect this when we decided to build on a slab instead of a basement. I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon!

Ants. We have ants.

They started showing up in the sunroom. Then they migrated to the great room. I noticed what looked like a crack in the sunroom floor, right about where those suckers were showing up. So I called the builder.

The crack is there (which will be fixed…eventually), but it’s not the source of the ants. Even though the house isn’t insured against insects, he still did us a favor and bought a gallon container of some pesticide that’s also good on the inside. He sprayed all around the house yesterday and left the remainder on the porch. I sprayed inside after I found ants in my trash can.

Have I told you how much I hate ants?

Our builder swears by this stuff, though. Said he had a pretty bad infestation at his home and it took care of it. Keeping my fingers crossed that I’ve seen the last of them. At least until we get grass.

Yesterday the builder graded the back yard (although I have no idea when to expect our patio, driveway, and sidewalks to be poured; nothing has been formed yet). There was a killdeer nest out in the “yard,” but I’m guessing it’s not there anymore. I don’t see the bird or any sign of the eggs. I thought for sure the eggs would have hatched before the sod was laid (seeing as we need the concrete poured first). I just wasn’t counting on the yard getting graded before then. Oh well. Sorry birdie!

Yesterday I took a break from the old house. Of course that didn’t mean I didn’t work. I just put some of the stuff away, or at least moved the boxes to their correct room. Baby steps!

We had planned on having the house-warming party on the 30th. But since it looks like we won’t get our driveway and patio until after that day, we pushed it to August 11. Just as well. I wasn’t so sure I would be ready by the 30th!

So… how much do you hate ants? So annoying, aren’t they?

Happy Friday!

Stacy

Wednesday Reads and I'm Pooped

Moving is for young people. Not old fogies like Hubby and me. I NEVER want to move again. NEVER.

And if everything goes according to our plan, I won’t have to.

Still working on getting our stuff over to the new house. Not everything is coming over, either. And that’s the part we don’t know what to do with. If I were the garage sale type, I’d set one up. But I’m not. That’s just too much work for me. I just hope Goodwill will want the bulk of the stuff.

Here’s what I finished reading this week:

Book #20

Dates read: May 25 – June 11
Title: The White Lily
Year of publication: 2017
Author: Juliette Cross
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series: Vampire Blood #3
# of Pages: 271
Paper or plastic: Nook e-book
How obtained: Purchased
Blurb from Goodreads: To the north of the Varis empire, a mysterious faction spreads propaganda against the vampire monarchy. Friedrich Volya, the Duke of Winter Hill, seeks to discover who they are before his uncle finds them first. King Dominik will punish the traitors with brutal force.

    Local schoolteacher, the raven-haired Brennalyn, is on her own mission—to spy on the duke and discover what she can for the Black Lily. She longs to help the commonwealth and bring justice to the many orphans left behind from the ravages of the blood madness, like the children she lovingly keeps in her care. What she doesn’t plan for is the heart-pounding attraction she feels for the duke, enemy to the Black Lily.

    But when Brennalyn’s secret puts her life and the life of her children in danger, Friedrich steps in as her protector, she finds out there’s more to the duke than she thought. 

My thoughts: It’s hard reading in the midst of a move, but at least during the few breaks I had, I had something enjoyable to read. I bought book #4 so I can finish the series.

Sunday was the first time I’d turned on my laptop since shutting it down for the move. I was just too pooped to turn it on. Yesterday I wrote for the first time since June 1st. What a nice feeling that was. I look forward to continuing my writing even though I still have to drive back and forth each day to empty that house. Son is bringing over his truck this evening to help with the remaining bookcases and the two rugs we have. I’m starting to see the end in sight, but man, it can’t come quick enough.

So… Need any junk? I’ve got plenty. You only have to come over and pick it up!

Happy Reading!

Stacy

On A Brief Hiatus

With the move happening tomorrow (yay!), I doubt I feel like blogging. Heck, I’ve been packing and moving stuff for the last couple of days and I don’t feel like doing ANYTHING!

I can’t even sleep because no A/C. At least I’ll have A/C tomorrow!!!

Keep your fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly for us during the move. With the way things have been going lately, we need all the good mojo we can get!

Happy Monday! See you next week.

Stacy

I Got My Number Transferred…FINALLY

The last two days have been soooooo frustrating.

Last week I put in an order with Spectrum to move our service (tv, internet, phone). That’s when I found out we couldn’t keep our phone number (since we are moving into a different county). I was not happy about this.

Hubby called AT&T. We can transfer our number to them as a cell phone and still be able to use our wireless phones by plugging the base into some kind of hub. So, basically, have that number be like a land line (with several handsets around the house), except it’s a cell. I was so relieved to hear this.

So, on Tuesday I headed into the AT&T store. Bought the base unit and got the process started to transfer our phone number.

Later that day, Hubby got an e-mail from AT&T. The number couldn’t be transferred because it wasn’t active.

Really? I was still using it. So I called AT&T on Wednesday. The transfer order I placed with Spectrum actually put a cancel order on the phone. So I called Spectrum and cancelled the order. I then called AT&T back and was THEN informed I have to wait 24 hours.

Sure, fine, whatever. I do that.

When I called AT&T yesterday, the kind lady there even called Spectrum to make sure the phone was active. There was no order to cancel the phone. Everything  looked good. Yay! AT&T started the process again.

Later that day, Hubby got another e-mail. The number couldn’t be transferred because it wasn’t active.

Arrrghhh!!!

I called AT&T back. A nice man there called Spectrum to find out what’s going on. Seemed just because the order was cancelled didn’t clear the phone altogether. Something got stuck. Spectrum said the phone would be clear in 15 minutes. AT&T said to call back then so they could start the process.

Sure, fine, whatever. I do that.

I got some guy at AT&T that I couldn’t understand. He won’t read the notes the other two people left in my file and says the number wasn’t working. I couldn’t deal with this guy any more (I might have yelled at him at this point) so I said I’d call after dinner. Since this was the fifth time I had called AT&T and the fifth person I talked to, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t get him again.

I didn’t. Whew. The sixth person was able to start the process again (after calling Spectrum—again—and finding out the number was good to go).

This morning I went on line and punched in our number to see what the process of our phone is (since e-mails go to Hubby and he wasn’t awake).

The transfer went through!!!

Finally!!!!! It won’t be complete until the 6th (after we move) and I can’t transfer Spectrum until the phone finishes porting over to AT&T, but we’ll be able to keep our number.

Maybe this day won’t be so bad after all. Even though it’ll be hot and we don’t have A/C in the old house. That has to be replaced and we’re in the process of getting quotes. Don’t need to spend a fortune on getting a new A/C. But at least I have one LESS thing to worry about—our phone number.

Happy Friday!

Stacy