I am on a mission to re organize, de clutter, and general do over in some of my rooms in the house. I have my daughter in law and the grandkids coming in August and I want all this done by then. I was just telling my cleaning lady she needs to schedule extra days to come help me. My husband spent all day the 4th cleaning all of the big sunroom windows which needed it so badly. With all the rain the windows and everything else had a haze of greenish on them. I don't know if it is some kind of mold or what but I have not seen it before we started having so much rain. The windows look fantastic. Now he has to do all the big windows in the office and the atrium. We have so many huge floor to ceiling windows here it is a big job. But now looking out the sunroom windows is so nice. Now he needs to drag out the power washer! Lots of stuff to clean outside.

I overslept this morning, then hurried breakfast and a shower to make my appointment with a sinus/ear MD at 9 a.m. I've been anxious to see someone. My left ear became 'muffled' ten days ago. I've had some kind of blockage in my left sinus it for months. (Improves while I'm on antibiotics, then is back again.) My pulmonary MD recommended this doctor, who must be popular given how long I had to wait for an appointment. I need some help to keep sinus troubles from turning into coughs, then into pneumonia.

I got to the office and was handed a form to fill out. At the top it listed the various doctors in the group with their specialties. Oh, no! My referral had been to a *throat* specialist, not sinus/ears. The clerk got my appointment cancelled and I'm to see a more appropriate MD tomorrow afternoon.

I hope I'll be able to HEAR her!

Other than that, we're still *wet* here, and only in the upper 60's yesterday and today. Some Summer!

RavenCajun, we started a general do-over in our very small, modest, living room in May of 2014...it's now July 2015 and it's almost completed. I admire your speed and time frame. I'd love to see your windows!

Of course there were glitches. I had one contractor totally disappear for four-five months, (he decided to spend the winter in a southern state and left me with siding removed and the 'bones' of my house exposed to early winter weather under the two partially installed new windows). The stand-in carpenter cut his off his thumb off (not on my project or in my house, thankfully!) before I finally found another carpenter to finish up.

All in all we got the 60+ year old original oak floors stripped and re-finished, new baseboard, two new windows - large but nowhere as massive as yours - a new front door, a small (but huge to me) broom closet with coordinating door and trim, a new heat pump/furnace/air conditioning system, and new duct work.

I am very thankful for the healthier, warmer/cooler, and nicer improvements, and even more thankful it is finally f-i-n-i-s-h-e-d! I still have to finish and seal the inside edges of the two casement windows that flank the front picture window, but they detach and will be easy to do. I also have to decide on a storm door by the end of September. I'm not good a choosing things like this. I'm always second-guessing myself.

I go tomorrow to order the new furniture!

I've also been de-cluttering my side of the garage, getting rid of some things and projects I'll never live long enough to finish, and arranging the remaining birding/gardening/seasonal items in an easy-to-access way.

Oh we don't have those kinds of projects to do in that time frame. We do have to get new replacement windows in the bedrooms and get the back wall exterior of the house taken out and replaced with hardi plank. But that's a different time line lol. I am trying to find out who I need to call to get someone out here to cut back my stone wall and take down my wrought iron gates at my driveway. It will take a giant masonry saw. We are trying to widen the driveway so there's more room to get the rv in and out. That one is on the sooner list.

My life has been pretty busy since I returned from Florida in early May. My 36 year old daughter moved home with her dog so we have been getting used to living under the same roof again. I spend every weekend with my significant other; I go to his house one week and he comes to mine the other. On the four days I'm home I play bridge and try to spend some time with my girlfriends. I'm also busy planning a trip to Slovenia in early September. Al's sisters have rented a house there for three months and we are going to visit and do some touring.

Last week there was a bad storm and my condo roof got hit by lightning. It tore up some siding and part of the roof, fried a tv, a printer, and my garage door opener as well as blowing a couple of outlets. The condo association is taking care of most of the big stuff; nobody was hurt so I can't complain.

I'm all done with redecorating since I did it all last year before I moved into this condo. Now I'm just trying to enjoy life in the north before we go back to Florida for the winter.

ChiSue, the medical specialty is Otolaryngology, which is commonly referred to as ENT -- for Ear, Nose, and Throat. They are interconnected.

Nursing a summer cold :o(

It's an ENT practice, but my appointment was mistakenly made with the doctor who specializes in throats when I wanted the sinus/ear person. I've seen more than my share of these folks: Sinus surgeries in 1981, 1991, and what I thought was "The End" in 2002, when *nothing* was left in there by the then-guru, Dr. Stankiewicz at Loyola in Maywood, IL. A subsequent CT looks like there's just an empty cave behind my nose.

We moved a month ago, but we are settled in. Our weather has been good compared to other places and I am playing golf about 3 times a week, enthusiastically, but not well, I am watching 2 grandsons two days a week. I bought a new computer and I am trying to figure that out.

Sue, your life is so full. I can't imagine how you do all you do.

My days are mostly filled between going outside to fuss with the flower gardens and puttering inside with puzzles and the day to day cooking and 'light' housekeeping. So much rain that I am not getting as much outside time as I would like.

On the 4th we did travel 100 miles to my husbands family reunion. Rain started the day, but by 2 pm it stopped and a good time was had by all in spite of the mud all around our shelter and the playground in the park. Only 21 of the usual 35 or so attended. So disappointing. Seems a lot of the 'young' crowd opted for Fourth of July picnics where booze and fireworks were available.

This past Monday a couple that we spend a lot of time with came to lend DH a hand with general maintenance of my elevator that gets me up from the garage level to the kitchen door level. We met this couple just 5 years ago, so we are still getting to know all about each other's lives pre meeting. We ladies had a great visit in the house while the guys worked out in the garage out of earshot!

My lift chair needs replaced, so DH and I went chair shopping on Tuesday. We have looked at several brands over the past few months and settled on the 'Golden Technologies' brand chair. Much, much better made than any others we looked at. I chose an upgrade in fabric that added almost $400 to the base price, but I am worth it!

not much..since i have been regulated to the sofa and lap top, I seem to get less done, lol....dh has the office so cluttered you can't see the desk top, but I do have one tiny space regulated for doing bills, ect, lol...

we're in the middle of another child's divorce...why us?? 15 years and 2 dd's...this time...and while they are still sharing the same house, different floors, they're not communicating...and in the middle of all this dil is planning her mother and partner's wedding in sept...looking forward to this with open heart...some joy in the chaos...

this crazy weather...it's been so cool that I noticed some leaves on an older tree yellowing...dh got so frustrated with one bed of "weeds", he pulled out real plants too, lol...

gazinia...don't blame you for the up-graded fabric...those chairs get so much use and fil's "cheap' fabric showed it..but he ended up living in his, till falls ect, so at 93, he's now in nursing home...believe it or not dh's cousin was able to find homes for all 3 he had!

so funny you mentioned your elevator..dh is a consultant for actual building sized machines....

it never fails to amaze me how our lives intertwine...

Susan, my elevator only rises about 32 inches. My DH who never ceases to amaze me made the 'elevator' out of a mechanics lift table. Seems we couldn't buy an elevator that wasn't way beyond my needs, so as he usually does, husband solved another problem for me with his ingenuity.

I've been reading a lot lately. I don't go online as much as I used to. My Kindle is actually a god send for me....keeps me from thinking about how lonely my life is. But I do have a lot of "book boyfriends"....lol