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withdiamonds at 12:49pm on 03/12/2014
withdiamonds at 12:49pm on 03/12/2014I woke up to AO3 kudos on 19 popslash stories this morning, including the Lambs Epic, which is over 80,000 words long. It was lovely, really, and someone must be a speedreader.
We had a buyer lined up for our house in Pittsburgh - the first written offer in 9 months - but the inspection was over 50 pages of dumb shit and they freaked out and terminated the contract. Seriously, the guy applied current code to old construction, which you're not supposed to do. There were things like "too much space between the spindles on the stairway bannister, needs more spindles," "the railing on the deck is horizontal and it should be vertical, otherwise it can be used as a ladder," "the front step is several inches too high" - it's been that way for 75 years!!! There was a lot more of that kind of stuff, along with "there are leaves in the gutter" and "it takes too long for the water in the kitchen sink to get hot." Well, yes, it does. That's age, gravity, and distance. Again, 75 years.
Here's the thing - if you can't deal with buying an old house, then don't go looking at old houses.
So, we have a few legit things to fix, and then I'm going to change the carpet in the living room to make it lighter, and we'll see if anyone wants it. People don't like it because it's dark. I'll admit it is - after we moved I ended up with at least a dozen extra lamps, because I had one in every corner in Pgh. But I liked it like that, although I do understand that not everyone likes dark and cozy. It is the house of my soul, it's in my bones, and it makes me sad to have it go unloved.
Larry is dealing with it extremely well, after bitching all summer about how long it's been taking. We would very much like to be out from under it and didn't expect it to take this long to sell, but someday someone will want it.
Right?
I spent early November moving my stepdad to an independent living facility. Lois and I went down to TN after his gall bladder exploded and I told him it was time. He was very amenable to that, surprisingly. I think he's gotten very lonely the past few years. So I found a place in Columbus, my brother found a place in Atlanta, and my stepsister found a place in Valdosta. Then we made him choose.
He chose Atlanta, which I was both happy and sad about. Then after four days of helping him pack, I was just mostly happy. I have no idea how my mother let him live.
He's pretty happy now, though, so I am, too, and my brother and sister-in-law live close by. I'm planning a trip in January to go see him in his new place. We're going to deal with his house in TN and all the stuff he left there in February.
I also went to Philly to visit my stepmom in her independent living place. It's close to my stepsister and it's quite lovely. My stepmom, who is 93, swims three mornings a week, goes to the gym the other mornings and is up to 30 minutes on the recumbent stair-climber, and when she was showing me around the facility, insisted we take the stairs instead of the elevator. She walks to the grocery store, meets her friends at the pub for drinks every day, and is having the time of her life.
Clearly the key to life is to keep moving.
Which seques nicely into Thanksgiving, when for the first time in I don't know how many years, nobody did any Turkey Trots. It was just Ashley, Larry and I, and we sat around all day, then around 5 decided we should make dinner - we had Cornish hens - and it was the most relaxing Thanksgiving I've ever had.
Sebastian continues to be the cutest baby ever.
I loved SPN's 200th episode. It made me cry.
Also making me cry are the Columbus Blue Jackets. Such hope. So many injuries. Much sadness and disappointment. There were two more long-term injuries announced this week. How does one hockey team have EIGHT players needing abdominal/groin repair surgery in an 18 month period? Add in concussions(2), broken fingers/hands (3), skate blades to EYELIDS (fucking Kesler), knees (too numerous to count), torn triceps (1), degenerative back disease (1) and undisclosed upper and lower body injuries (a lot), and there are only four guys who have played all 22 games this season.
At least there are no mumps. Yet.
We had a buyer lined up for our house in Pittsburgh - the first written offer in 9 months - but the inspection was over 50 pages of dumb shit and they freaked out and terminated the contract. Seriously, the guy applied current code to old construction, which you're not supposed to do. There were things like "too much space between the spindles on the stairway bannister, needs more spindles," "the railing on the deck is horizontal and it should be vertical, otherwise it can be used as a ladder," "the front step is several inches too high" - it's been that way for 75 years!!! There was a lot more of that kind of stuff, along with "there are leaves in the gutter" and "it takes too long for the water in the kitchen sink to get hot." Well, yes, it does. That's age, gravity, and distance. Again, 75 years.
Here's the thing - if you can't deal with buying an old house, then don't go looking at old houses.
So, we have a few legit things to fix, and then I'm going to change the carpet in the living room to make it lighter, and we'll see if anyone wants it. People don't like it because it's dark. I'll admit it is - after we moved I ended up with at least a dozen extra lamps, because I had one in every corner in Pgh. But I liked it like that, although I do understand that not everyone likes dark and cozy. It is the house of my soul, it's in my bones, and it makes me sad to have it go unloved.
Larry is dealing with it extremely well, after bitching all summer about how long it's been taking. We would very much like to be out from under it and didn't expect it to take this long to sell, but someday someone will want it.
Right?
I spent early November moving my stepdad to an independent living facility. Lois and I went down to TN after his gall bladder exploded and I told him it was time. He was very amenable to that, surprisingly. I think he's gotten very lonely the past few years. So I found a place in Columbus, my brother found a place in Atlanta, and my stepsister found a place in Valdosta. Then we made him choose.
He chose Atlanta, which I was both happy and sad about. Then after four days of helping him pack, I was just mostly happy. I have no idea how my mother let him live.
He's pretty happy now, though, so I am, too, and my brother and sister-in-law live close by. I'm planning a trip in January to go see him in his new place. We're going to deal with his house in TN and all the stuff he left there in February.
I also went to Philly to visit my stepmom in her independent living place. It's close to my stepsister and it's quite lovely. My stepmom, who is 93, swims three mornings a week, goes to the gym the other mornings and is up to 30 minutes on the recumbent stair-climber, and when she was showing me around the facility, insisted we take the stairs instead of the elevator. She walks to the grocery store, meets her friends at the pub for drinks every day, and is having the time of her life.
Clearly the key to life is to keep moving.
Which seques nicely into Thanksgiving, when for the first time in I don't know how many years, nobody did any Turkey Trots. It was just Ashley, Larry and I, and we sat around all day, then around 5 decided we should make dinner - we had Cornish hens - and it was the most relaxing Thanksgiving I've ever had.
Sebastian continues to be the cutest baby ever.
I loved SPN's 200th episode. It made me cry.
Also making me cry are the Columbus Blue Jackets. Such hope. So many injuries. Much sadness and disappointment. There were two more long-term injuries announced this week. How does one hockey team have EIGHT players needing abdominal/groin repair surgery in an 18 month period? Add in concussions(2), broken fingers/hands (3), skate blades to EYELIDS (fucking Kesler), knees (too numerous to count), torn triceps (1), degenerative back disease (1) and undisclosed upper and lower body injuries (a lot), and there are only four guys who have played all 22 games this season.
At least there are no mumps. Yet.
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