Warning!... House update!

Sara, R.E. Dan and I got into the intended domicile the other day with an "Inspector" to determine if there were any "deal-breakers" or conditions that would stop me from going forward with purchasing this place.
The Inspector was a personal friend of R.E. Dan's and we knew many people in common and boy, was he a wiz at his job. He took a generous amount of time going over and explaining what he was observing, (AND how to fix it and who to call ,which ,of course, is extra expert input that is not required).

Although it IS a "fixer-upper", it appears to be totally habitable while such "fixing up" is taking place.
And there is much fixing up.

All things are solid but dated and aged.
For instance, pretty good-looking finish on the oak floors under the pathetically old wall-to-wall carpeting.
Haven't even dared to wonder what is under the bathroom wall-to-wall. The tiling in there is coffee colored and some of it is chipped and missing. (BUT, found a box of it in the garage. )Rather compact as well, read:cramped.
The parquet oak in the bonus room is pretty near perfect if not a little washed out. The fireplace has really good "rocking" in a horizontal pattern with a nice ledge mantle. The dark wood paneling, unfortunately appears to be perfect, which will kill me to either remove or paint. The windows to the deck are floor-to-ceiling, which makes you think they are sliders, but are not, (but they will be).

The kitchen has ceramic tile floor (one cracked) and yellow laminate counters and backsplash. According to Peg, the cabinets may be "Wood Hue" and are sturdy and well-made but the doors are ugly. I should not leave out the nearly psychedelic daisy foil wallpaper of black and white and yellow and silver. (I swear, the more I contemplate it, the more it is becoming appealing.) And, a "jalousied" window over the sink.

Attached garage needs a new door and opening system.
Roof needs vents.
A tiny pipe needs fixing.

Living room needs it's foil wallpaper dealt with.

Then, the finished, panelled, carpetted, basement has an interesting odor which is not from an ongoing water issue, but must still be attacked with aggression. Several layers of carpet will go and then we'll see what we've got.

Basement bathroom and sort-of kitchen, okay.

Furnace; new and still to be tested.
Central air; good quality but still to be tested.

Apparently I am insulated up to the eyeballs.(GOOD!)

Landscape needs some elbow grease. Hey, I may be building my own fence! Any one wanna come and build a fence with me?

Okay, I have exhausted even me about this.
Suffice to say...
Big deal, moving forward...

Dan, (my Brother), I really wish you could be here for some expert assistance. I have been thinking about you ever since I contemplated a home purchase this year.
Maybe, I'll have to fly you in at some point for guidance (as well as an extra pair of hands).

Hope you are not all bored to tears...
Love to all,
K8

Loving the Music.. and....

Thanks Emily, for these posts. Great idea! I am sharing it with Jeremy as it might be up his alley.

Since I am here, a quick catchup on my "house" status.

I started looking in May with a realtor from my old days at Massasoit. I was kinda frothing over some pictures of places and the prices I saw. I thought this might be my only window where all factors converge so that I may actually be able to get into a house.

So....R.E. Dan Derito has been patient, thorough and determined and we have seen plenty of dogs and a few viables. Finally I put an offer on one that was beat out by the end of the same day. Oh well.

So, I currently have an offer out on a "short sale" (just short of foreclosure) that was accepted by the seller but has to be accepted by their bank as well.

All my professionals are pretty convinced that I am in good shape to get the property, but as it is semi in the hands of the bank, there is that exra layer of approval.

I have not seen the interior since my first "go through" and that was practically in the dark and loaded with tenant stuff.

I DID see oak flooring under the carpet(!!!) It has an attached garage (!!!) A bonus room with a fireplace (!!!) a dishwasher (!!!) central a/c (!!!)

It also has foil wallpaper in the living room. Old gray grained and routered laminate cabinets, ala '60's, one cracked, but otherwise decent ceramic tile in the kitchen, I think.

It lists as a 3 bedroom, one of which could become a dining room.
I have no idea about closets, actual room dimensions, close-up conditions.

Anyway.... I am sort of climbing my current walls in anticipation.
Cooking up a storm and glueing myself to all the home improvement shows to keep me occupied.

I will probably use this site more for venting re: this process. I was thinking that this endeavor might even make a good "reality" blog all on it's own.

Anyway, hope everyone is happy and healthy and...
Best wishes,
Love,
Kate

In touch

Hey all,

I'm currently on a quest to integrate all my various e-presences, but it's hard with a work persona, a band persona, and now a family persona, all with different rules of conduct, etiquette, etc. but I'm trying.

Anyway, tour was great. Glad I was able to see Dan, Julie, Arielle, Kynna, her husband, and her kids with the similar sounding names, and bats and petrified forests and the dark side of humanity. Austin I think was especially strange and unkind to us on the band front, but the compensatory family time was a more than fair trade off. Is this an okay space to get into details?

Well, briefly, we popped a tire on the way from El Paso to Austin, stopping briefly in Van Horn, wherefore we encountered a very strange and unsettling people. It was the kind of town that made you feel like was overrun with vampires once the sun went down. Being that we were in search of a new tire we encountered many peoples that had very gremlin-like appearances, and didn't seem concerned with their hygiene, or the amount of pollutants they inhale.

So we ended up landing in Austin at around 10:30. We said it was cool if we played later, and they said they didn't remember that we were playing that night, even though their was a picture up in their display of our poster with a hand written date on it.

We played at around 1am that night and then opened the following night, but were able to stay in an empty apartment at a friend of claire's.

The darker side of humanity pertains to a fight I saw in front of the venue between two members of different bands that were playing that night, and 19 shots of gunfire that were fired later that night at Emo's, a club where two bands that we would play with the following Saturday in Dallas got blood on their vans and gear as they were loading out, and had to stay until 4am interviewing police as witnesses to the crime. Kynna assured us that this was unusual for Austin, but still, a bit strange.

Thanks for taking pictures, Arielle!

Anyway, we're up for best band (of the month) on The Deli Sf again, so please go there and vote: www.thedelimagazine.com/sf/

Also, you can buy the album on Itunes. I haven't done a big push yet because I want to build our twitter followership, email list, facebook fans, and have the physical record for sale on our website before I alert the masses.

How are you? When's the wedding? Are people on here a lot? Did I miss the boat?

makememakeyou.com

Jeremy

I forgot ..... The Shoe!

Becca's Prom pics!!

She looks so beautiful! I am so pleased with how happy she is here.. Jill has been her "best friend" since second grade.

G's Confirmation

The maid of honor and bridesmaid dresses have all been ordered. the bridesmaids are in marine, and the moh is in clover. dresses should be in about mid june. the engaement party is in 2 weeks. and lastly, the deposit for the hall has been put down. there's no turning back now for billy. aside from the party, we should be on some down time for a while. i'm just happy the big stuff is settled. ttfn!

My turn for a quick brag .. :>

Becca took a trail run at the SATS (no studying, no prep.. just wanted to get a feel for them) and out of a perfect possible score of 2400, she /nailed/ an exact 2000!

I think she can go just about anywhere she wants with those ..:>

Hi all---It's official...I am getting married on 7/24/2010! The dress, hall, and church are all set. I've asked my bridal party, but Billy is slow going for his group. My best friend Jonelle will be my maid of honor, Tracy, and his sister Keryn will be my bridesmaids, and Jonelle's daughter Brittany will be a junior bridesmaid. I'm looking at marine and clover for my colors. The planning moves on.......

Way to Go "G"

Student Achievement Award for Chemistry!!

wedding update!

just a quick note....my mum, colleen, and i went out on saturday to go look at dresses and get some ideas. by the end of our trip, my mum and i had both found our dresses. kudos to colleen for making us both try on the dresses that we ended up getting. i'm not going to post pics here in case billy looks in, but my mum, colleen and i all have pics of both. i'll keep you updated! ttfn!

Heres some pics from the other night, trying to drive while Steph keeps taking pictures every five seconds

update

CONGRATES DINA!!! Nice ring!
I moved in to my new house. Ill take pics of the place and post them soon.Its awesome, everything is working out great so far. Money is very tight but its worth it. We have a blast here together, even nights its just me Steph and her 2 yrs old son Dylan. Still looking for a second job...no luck. Works okay, went on a field trip yesterday to the S.D. Zoo that was fun. So yeah things or okay. Miss you all.

SARA......

What's the latest dirt girl?? You left us hanging, did you move? how's it going? who you dating?
Come on, keep up! Miss ya,

Aunt Colleen

WooHoo!

HIHI!! Just another update----Billy proposed here in Disney!! Magic Kingdom had Extra Hours last night, so we stayed, and he popped the question by the castle. I'm going to see Kynna and her crew in a little while after they have dinner over at Downtown Disney, so she will get to see it before I go home. His parents are here in Disney as well, so we told them this morning when we met up at Hollywood Studios. So now the fun begins...We'll keep you updated!

Dina

Mom/Gamma turns 80!!!

Yes, in April, that is April 28, Phyllis Ann Little Sullivan accomplishes living for 80 years.

For this birthday, Mom is so totally kicked back that she may not do much more than enjoy a small catered family meal at her current care facility residence. We hope to shower her with whatever goodies we can.

Mom/Gamma is not in pain, not suffering in any way other than diminished physical capacity. M/G still can drill us with her "Mom" look or sharp words, but rarely. We are mostly on good terms. She can be very astute on many topics, but I think her current arena has narrowed in focus.

She actually seems verrrry relaxed. I mean that M/G is generally staying more horizontal than vertical. She can be rallied, with prep.

If anyone reading this can steal 10 minutes and a stamp, Mom would be so tickled to get a card commemorating her 80th birthday.
Address follows:
Phyllis Sullivan
Southeast Rehab
184 Lincoln St.
North Easton, MA
02356

Nice posting with you...
K8

Recent pics from night out/ and random one of Jeremy I had from a performance

I love this photo

Jen, Lisa,Me, Heather, mom you might recognize Heather, and Steph

This is my friend Stephanie the one Im moving in with.

hey all!

So Im moving in about two weeks!! March 1st I move in with a good old friend of mine. We are so excited! Its a lil house, two flrs, three bedrms, two 1/2 bath, two car garage. Its Great! rent is high but Pop is going to help me out a little, THANK GOD, until I get a another job in addition to current one or another new better paying one.

I am still working at S.A.Y San Diego as a Supervisor but Im at a new site down in Pacific Beach. I love that I have a daily excuse to go to the beach. The school I work at is like three blocks down from the shore. I would love to stay working there but I am currently looking for a new job in office work. Not having much luck though. I do have an interview with the YMCA for a Coordinator 1 position though. It sounds pretty good its a step up the ladder as far as child care goes. We will see what happens with that.

I am seeing someone, and although I had a girls night out this Valentines, he ended up showing up with a roses. Pretty good move. We will see what happens with that too. ;)

Love you all, miss you all TTFN

FYI:"Satisfied Staying Single Day, Feb 11!!

Really!
I guess we singles should send "We're fine" cards out to our friends.
We should buy ourselves flowers or wine, or a gorgeous heart-shaped box of chocolates.

THAT really is my weak point.

I LOVE the most lavishly, or stylishly or cleverly decorated heart shaped box. I couldn't care less about the candy.
Any treat to myself will do. I could give the candy away and put soft sox, or a CD, or a tiny perfume in the box.
(I don't know if I'm going to really go there, but I do like the decorative part of Valentine's Day.)

I think it harks back to when I was "bulletin board girl" in school. The Nuns were fine letting me "do" the bulletin board for each month or semester or holiday. I'd stay after school designing and cutting out letters after creating the message for the theme. Then I'd try anything... I even got into 3-D kindof construction paper "pop-outs" stapled to the board.

But my best memory of decorating for Valentine's Day was the day I decided, as a mother of maybe.. the kids were 8 or 9...in San Diego, that I needed some cheering up and I was going to spend the afternoon making valentines for the family out of every piece of lace or glitter or shiny paper or doilies that I could rustle out of all my wrapping and ribbon and sewing scraps. I used construction paper, or paper plates, or anything I could think of really, I just remember that being a very enjoyable day.
When the kids came home, they joined in doing their own.

Took all afternoon. We'd stop and have a snack and then go back to the table and design and cut and paste.
Cheap fun!
They were also verrrrry...ahem...creative.
I loved 'em. Jeremy's was black and gold. Sara's silvers, lavenders, and pinks. Martin's was all the reds and whites.

See, I just may have to make one soon...
And it will be a loving little treat to myself.

So, Happy "Satified Staying Single Day" !

Go make a card to your self!

Latest on Mom's Transfer

As you all know, Mom has been waiting to get into St. Joe's and we had been told she was next on list. (that was in October), we checked in a few times & then it was suggested we back down. So after the holidays, we checked again & lo & behold, the Admissions Person is long gone & we are back to square one. So today, Peg & I had an appt. this morning & met with the Social Worker & new Admissions Person and gave them our tale of woe. I think it was a positive meeting, although they would not commit to anything. The good thing was that the new admissions director is the same gal that gave us (Mom, Kate, Peg & I), the tour last fall and she remembered us & remembered that we had another sister also (Kate, who couldn't make this meeting), so hopefully they will keep us in mind (upfront) for the next opening.

So that's the latest for now, and we'll update if anything changes! Send out Good Intentions!!!

Like I said...

We ARE getting walloped!
Wow, a snow storm per week.
It's a beaut!
(Thankfully for us, [immediate family loop] just bothersome, our power is not being "iced out".)
Others are being impacted like we live in ancient times.

Here's something else you can quote me on...
Power conduits will/should be "sunk" whenever possible and eventually as a standard delivery scheme. This "pole" type stringing will be abandoned for "hardwiring", sort of like, oh, maybe, PLUMBING!"

All I know is... (which,... consider the source) If we intend to go forward toward economical and well-developed progress, let's do the historically obvious actions.

How do you like THAT for a "Hi How Ahr yah"?

Just saw Mom\Gamma.
Kinda fiesty, but open to a fluid conversation and interaction.
I commented that I DID like her new glasses, (which she resisted for at least 5 years) and she seemed peased with them herself, now, after a time of stated dislike.
Peg makes sure that Mom\Gamma has a sweet bunch of buds and blooms in her elegant Waterford crystal bud vase.
Colleen has made sure that Mom\Gamma has a cell phone.

Based upon what I am seeing for the conditions and process of growing old, frail and needy in America, it could be worse.

So, I actually packed and shipped the presents that I gave to my kids at Christmas.
Yes, Sara and Jeremy were here, in Brockton, under my roof when we gifted. But..
Jeremy travelled with two backpacks (no checking) and Sara travelled with a rolling bag the size of a small sports car.
Jeremy left all behind to be shipped and in Sara's case, I was still haunting my local giga-stores for the Wii Fit Balance Board on the day that she flew.
Finally GOT IT! (Got two, Sara and me.)

Well, my darn tendonitus arm is actually on the mend. After a year. I am like a new person.
No Pain!

To Dan; I may be able to attempt to draw/paint/pastel again. I think I am not very good, but...

Kynna; I AM making another "Computers are for the Birds" birdhouse for Habitat fund-raising. Using cast-off pc parts and lots of glue and poly, I have won ribbons and garnered a few $ for Habitat.

Well, that's the rambling post from this family member.

I would love it if others would "ramble".

(We all know how to "scan".
Skip what you choose, read what you want.)

Let the weekend begin!

Love to all,
K8

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!

Happy New Year to all! 2008 has been a trip, curious to see how 2009 shapes up. I hope all your dreams come true!