It's Sunday evening and moving day is on Tuesday morning [at the unbelievable hour of 8 a.m.!!]

I started a metal bookcase in the bedroom and am planning on putting small containers on the bottom shelf [works in progress - or just fun fabrics that I can look at as spots of color in the room as I go to sleep], then magazines in nice magazine holders on the next shelf up - and then my books on tape on the top of the shelf. It will be just above window height.

I was there 3 times today and the sun doesn't hit directly into the room either front or back - so I won't worry about items being sun-damaged over the years.

There will be photos and commentary after the Tuesday move [that night I'm going to Marie's sewing class so won't have anything until Wednesday]

Wednesday 7/11/07 Keys at last!

I picked up my keys to the front door, my gate opener, and my panic pager today [along with my name tag to be worn on Wednesdays]. It was so quiet at the campus - nobody washing their car with the radio blaring - no kids selling drugs in front of the house [yes, that happened the other night at home].

I can hardly wait until Tuesday when I will be officially moved into the grounds.

This is the view out of my front door [through the kitchen window]. I'm not close enough to see the folks inside their unit across the way, but am close to the birdfeeders hanging in the trees - so lots of flutter and lots of natures music.

Back window views [facing south]. My entire back wall is window [from about 3 feet or so above the floor]. There is no walkway back here so no one should be walking by my bedroom at night.
There is an avocado tree just to the right of my back door, and I am allowed to pick the fruit from it [residents can do that, but not staff].

There is a group of residents who pick the variety of fruit trees and set the fruit aside somewhere for the use of the residents [I need to ask where that is].

Here is the kitchen that I have been waxing poetic about. A little less storage space than at home, but the corner cabinet has an odd door and a revolving rack for items there [both upper and lower corner cabinets.]

There's even a whatnot shelf built into the wall [with a glass door]. I need to find some stands to put my "catly" items on, so they can be layered on the larger shelves. Along with cats, I have a reindeer made and painted by a coworkers wife from DWP and an angel purchased from a craft fair somewhere.

There is a very tiny hallway outside the bathroom with a long hanging closet. I'll get some hanging sweater containers to put fabric in [fabric? me?]. There will also be another storage cabinet being built to replace the vanity [not nearly enough makeup to put in it's own unit] on the opposite wall of this sliding door cabinet.

And the bathroom. If I were really agile, I could sit on the toilet and wash my feet in the lavatory. There is also a shower to the right of the toilet.

Nothing in the bedroom yet, so no photos.

I will be moving fabric in for the next few days, and will be moving in officially on Tuesday, the 17th. Parking is not far away, and the dining room is a short walk [so between walking the dogs and going to eat, I should tighten up some of my muscles, right?]

I get 20 meals for the month. After looking at the menu, I may not be cooking this month any more at all. It's going to be tough to get to all 20, but I can't carry them over to the next month.

Moving day!

No photos today, just an update.

I went to Westminster Gardens to sign a batch of papers.

The marketing director and I did a final walk-through the unit and checked everything out. Utilities are all on [oops! we didn't check the water] and the place looks great.

I get my key tomorrow [Wednesday] and will start moving odds & ends into the unit.

Photos tomorrow

Kitten Pics

Blackie has a bed next to my recliner so she can sleep there when I'm home. Otherwise, I lock her in the bathroom with water and litterbox so she can be safe while I'm gone.

She's gotten really good at climbing! She had discovered the ramp for the dog to get up onto my bed, but this morning she leaped up to the side of the bed and pulled herself up. I don't think she can get down the same way [there's a loud "thump" when she lands], but it doesn't seem to bother her.

On Tuesday I sign my final papers to get into Westminster Gardens. I pick up the key on Wednesday and will start moving things in at that time. The movers come on the 17th to pick up the big furniture and I will be officially moving in on that date.

Scary and fun!!!

Mystery Weekend in Big Bear, Calif.

This will be about Big Bear, but first you get kitten photos. She's almost 6 weeks old and she and Little Bit [youngest chihuahua] have developed a "tag" type game they play [until he scares her and she runs under my feet or the furniture].








Here is our room [Sandy and I bunked together]. Very spacious [although the refrigerator door didn't close] and clean. The T.V. worked well, also. We stayed at Northwoods Resort and Convention Center in Big Bear.






And here's the photo of my first block. So far there are 12 different food/bug fabrics plus the green "sashing" around the 4 center blocks. All the fabrics are supposed to be different, although not all of mine worked out that way.


And, of course, there's chocolate to get us through the hours of cutting, matching, sewing, and ironing. The main room was upstairs [2nd floor] at the convention center of the hotel, and the ironing room was a bedroom on the first floor of the "rooms" of the hotel. Quite a hike at 10 p.m. [although it did get the blood circulating].







And here's my quilt with the first border on it [not in the pattern, but needed]. I did get the top larger border on, but it didn't show here.




I finished the borders at "Sit & Sew" on Tuesday night at A Quilter's Dream, where we are not holding our quilting classes.



And here is the group that stayed late enough Sunday morning to get a group photo. We had show and tell and saw everything from quilt tops with all borders on to just a few blocks placed strategically on the chest.


There was way to much food [breakfast, lunch and dinner on Saturday and breakfast on Sunday were part of the package], but lots of fun. I did discover that Starbucks has a Double Chocolate Chip Frappucino [sp?] that should NOT be taken at 10 p.m. It was tough getting to sleep that night even though my body said "enough!'.

NEW WATER HEATER

Here is a brand new water heater [what fun!]. It's been leaking for several days, but I thought it was the washing machine and turned off the water to the machine for a couple days to check. Water kept building up on the floor [sigh] so finally called a company that came out within an hour to do the work.

The wooden floor is a piece of plywood that the workers put down because the folks who put down the floor didn't bother to put Pergo UNDER the water heater, and the new one had to go back about 2 feet so it could be strapped to the wall.


Here is all the new piping that they installed because the old piping wouldn't allow the water heater to stand against the wall.

They did a great job - but it must have been gold plated somewhere for the price I was charged. I will say the guys that did the job were top notch, very professional, and very polite and neat.

I really hoped I could move in July without spending more money on the house.

My new home!

I went for a visit to Westminster Gardens today, Wednesday, and got to see the new unit still under construction.

Maple cabinets in the kitchen!!!!! Stove, refrigerator, sink, and washer/dryer still to be installed [along with the floor in the entire unit].

This photo is the bedroom [mint green walls that don't really show up in the photo].

I can hardly wait to move in. There are no folks out working on their cars with music blasting, and no fireworks going off in the grounds.

It looks like move-in date will be July 17th [at least that's the plan at this time].

And I tried to take a better photo of my rescue kitten [but no luck]. She's still thriving and driving the dogs nuts. She's going to a babysitter this weekend while I go to Mystery Quilt Weekend up in Big Bear Lake. I am, though, going to have to find a home for her before I move.